Naruto: Game On
by Inferno'sLegacy
Summary: He should've known better. He should have just went back to sleep but noooo! He had to go and touch the weird glowing thing in front of his face. Thanks to his brilliant idea there was now a hologram floating in front of his face saying "Welcome to the Game!". Naruto really hated his life! Naruto/Harem! Strong/Smarter Naruto! AU! Humor/Adventure/Drama
1. Chapter 1

_**Naruto: Game On**_

 **Edited & Revised: 7/12/19**

 _ **A/N: Hey, I'm Inferno'sLegacy and welcome to Naruto: Game on! As you can guess this is going to be a gamer Naruto fic. I've taken a lot of inspiration from stories such as "Naruto: Game of the year addition", "Naruto: Dawn of the Gamer", "When Signing a Contract Always Read the Fine Print", "Dragon Ball: RPG Rebirth" and "A Cold Game to Play" as well as numerous other stories.**_

 _ **This is my first story, so things may be a bit rough to start. The characters may act a little random at the beginning, goofy one moment and serious the next, and the writing style may be a little all over the place the first few chapters. Though that's mainly just b/c I'm inexperienced and trying to find a writing style that fits me. As we progress things should cement. Anyway, enough about me being a newb! Before we get to the story I just want to state a few things regarding it.**_

 _ **1\. Since this is a gamer fic it will be mainly light hearted and hopefully humorous; however, it will have its fair share of serious/tense and suspenseful arcs/chapters/scenes.**_

 _ **2\. Naruto and crew will be powerful in this fic. Its unavoidable really, given the type of fic this is. Expect a lot of elite shinobi to be born in this story. However, fear not! Powerful heroes mean powerful villains!**_

 _ **3\. I respect Kishimoto's work and world (cannon) and as such a good bit of this story will be pulled from the cannon storyline such as Kaguya, Madara, Juubi, etc. I get a lot of people don't like that but that's mainly due to how poorly they were handled towards the end of Shippuden. And that leads me to my next point.**_

 _ **4\. I'm trying to build a world here. Kishimoto made a great Universe that has limitless potential with Naruto. However, a there a lot of finer details missing and things that were rushed and not fully flushed out. I want to go really hard on character development for any and all key characters and show what makes them tic (at least in my story). Be that Naruto, Orochimaru or even Kiba. I also want to stress that any significant power gains will makes sense has to how and why the occurred. Be that characters being smarter than they should be or getting a ability much earlier than they should. Also, on the world building note, any major events will have subtle or even obvious hints leading up to them. Save for things that are meant to be shock-n-awe.**_

 _ **5\. Tropes will be used! Seeing as how many Naruto fics there are out there it's nearly impossible not to use some tropes (commonly used ideas ex: gravity seals). However, refer to #4, they will make sense. Also, this**_ _ **WILL**_ _ **be a Harem fic. However, it**_ _ **WON"T**_ _ **exceed**_ _ **6**_ _ **girls unless YOU ask for it. Also refer to #4. It won't just be random girls throwing themselves at him. Relationships will be developed over time for different reasons and there will be road bumps.**_

 _ **6\. I have an overall idea of how I want this story to end but the roadmap is still foggy. So, any suggestions for arcs would be appreciated.**_

 _ **Final: This 1st chapter may be a little slow as it is mainly explaining how the game works. There is a hopefully funny sequence towards the end though. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the mentioned works**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

9-year-old Naruto Uzumaki never had the most normal of lives. He had naturally heightened senses that could give even the most seasoned Inuzuka a run for their money. He was also smart for his age, but most wouldn't know it because he often had what he called "retard moments". Strangely enough, he could also "feel" the emotions of most people in rare instances.

Now this sounds good but there's also the fact the 90% percent of the village seemed to hate him for an unknown reason. In his later years he would be able to pin the blame of a certain ball of fluff with anger management, but for now that would remain a mystery.

The young boy could now be found sitting on a sofa wondering for the millionth time if he was insane or not. The reason for this intense questioning. Well let's rewind time a bit and find out.

 _ **(Time style: 5 Minute Flashback No Jutsu)**_

Naruto always thought of himself as a highly imaginative person, so he wasn't as originally concerned as he should've been when he woke up to see a shining blue ball of light in his face.

"Hmm, I'm gonna close my eyes and count to three then it will be gone" said Naruto as he closed his eyes. "1….2...and 3!" He opened them again and it was still there. "Okay, okay. That's fine I'm just gonna try pinching myself this time", said Naruto as he tried to remain calm. He closed his eyes and pinched himself. When he opened his eyes this time it was...still there.

Naruto's first mind told him to panic and run around screaming. Thankfully for him logic took over rather quickly. Without another word the blond rose from his bed and headed to his bathroom. He then went to the sink and turned the water on. After a few seconds it had filled completely.

Unfortunately, the blond didn't wasn't lucky enough to have hot water but, in this case, it wasn't needed. Naruto took one look at the freezing liquid before sighing and thoroughly dunking his head in it. He only lifted it when he was nearly drowning.

Unfortunately for Naruto the result was the same as last time. He just sighed tiredly before saying, "Well shit."

 _ **(Time style: Present No Jutsu)**_

Now located in his living room Naruto intensely stared at the orb. He wondered about what do for what seemed like an endless amount of time before an idea stuck.

"This is not smart at all, but I can't think of anything else," said the small child. It honestly wasn't but what was he to do? Without much further thought he went against his better judgement and touched it.

As soon as his hand contacted the orb a blue light filled the room. When it died down a futuristic watch(1) with black and blue highlights was now fixed on his arm.

"What the hell!?" Cried out Naruto in surprise. He was shocked out of his mind at the appearance of the object now found on his wrist. Out of all the things that could've happened he most definitely had NOT expected this.

Seeing that it hadn't done any immediate damage to his person Naruto decided to take a closer look at the device. The watch's band was made of a sturdy yet comfortable metal. The frame of the face was made of the same metal and shaped like a rectangular hexagon and fitted with what appeared to be a touch screen. He guessed it was some type of smart watch.

Naruto's assumption was proven right when the watch hummed to life with a gentle blue light. He then looked at the screen and saw the word START in the dead center of it.

Seeing no other option or button to press, he timidly pressed the screen. Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. Naruto looked on in awe as a holographic screen appeared in his face. Soon after words formed on the screen. It read:

" **WELCOME TO NARUTO THE GAME! Thank you for bonding with the GNW! That stands for Gamer Ninja Watch by the way. The GNW is linked to your cerebral cortex and alters the way you perceive the world and actively alters the word to make it game like. The watch's most basic functions include a gps, calendar, mp3 player, heart rate monitor, a comms radio and a digital clock. However, that is the boring stuff. You have been chosen to be one of the few lucky souls to be blessed with the gamer ability and can do many, many things. CLICK NEXT TO CONTINUE."**

"This is a joke, right?" That was all Naruto could think say. He stared at those words for several long minutes before he somewhat snapped out of his shock. Once he did he pressed continue. He then watched as the text shifted.

" **Now that you have bonded with the GNW your life has basically been turned into a MMORPG. As such you will be able to accept quests and missions, earn xp and money, earn and loose reputation, complete dungeons and raids and earn loot! The GNW will keep track of various data such as your stats, active quests, money, experience, reputations, etc. Now that you've been given a general overview, it's time for a more in-depth tutorial. CLICK NEXT TO CONTINUE."**

Naruto was still trying to figure out if this was one of those genjutsu shinobi were so fond of but, he had to admit he understood most of that. Given that he was largely disliked by the village Naruto led a relatively lonely life. The only people he had any consistent contact with where the Ichiraku's from the ramen stand and the Hokage. It's for that reason that he turned to playing video games to make up for his loneliness. He especially liked and excelled at MMORPGs.

Seeing no harm in going forward or an obvious way to go back, Naruto clicked next. He then watched in fascination the watch's screen changed and showed him what the watch's screen would look like when he wasn't using the "special" features. The words on the holo-screen shifted as well.

" **This is what your watch will look like to those who don't know about the game and to you when you aren't using it. You can consider it the "standard form". In the top left and right corners it displays the date and time respectively. Directly under that is the heart rate monitor and gps. At the bottom you will notice three icons, a music note, a communication device and the letters "GN". The most important of these is the GN icon since the other two are self-explanatory. CLICK THE ICON TO CONTINUE."**

"I'm still positive I'm hallucinating but, I gotta admit that this has a clean screen layout," said Naruto impressed. It was then he noticed that the screen had disappeared, and the watch was in its standard form but, the only part of the screen that was lit up was the GN icon. Once again, he saw no other option, so he tapped it and watched as the holo screen reappeared.

" **As you can see the GN Icon will be your main way of accessing your watch's "special" functions. CLICK NEXT TO LEARN MORE."**

A tap later and the screen changed again. This time it had the words going down the center. The words where:

 **Status**

 **Skills**

 **Quests**

 **Pause**

 **Equipment**

 **Inventory**

 **Rep. & Rel.**

Naruto noticed that the status Icon was the only one highlighted, so he tapped that. He then watched as the screen changed again. It read:

 **Name:** Uzumaki Naruto

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:**

 **Gamer Rank: 1**

 **Ryo:** 5000

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv4 next lv=0/4000

 **HP:** 2230/2230

 **CP:** 2100/2100

 **VIT:** 25 (10)

 **STR:** 6

 **DEX:** 4

 **INT:** 10

 **WIS:** 9 (5)

 **LUK:**?

 **Effects: ?** (+10 VIT, +5 WIS & 100% exp gain to [?] skill) **?** (+120 HP & +100 CP Per lv) **Pariah** (-25% to Konoha reputation gains) **Kami's Blessing** (9999999% increase to luck skill)

 **Bio:**

 **Naruto Uzumaki, a child whose origins are shrouded in mystery and false truths. He is the pariah of Konoha and as such he has been hated and treated unfairly by the Village all his life for reasons unknown. Due to this he developed a love of pranking and video games to alleviate his loneliness. Despite it all he still has hope in the people of Konoha and is driven by a unbreaking will and pure heart. Naruto strives to be a ninja of his village but has been handicapped every step of the way thus far. Rather he will crack under pressure and fall into darkness or rise above his oppression and forge a legend all his own remains to be seen.**

"Why do I get the feeling this game knows more about me than I do?" Naruto asked the question quietly. He found it a fitting description, but the text was worded like it already had all the answers to the so-called mysteries. His mood was also dampened ever so slightly by the mention of his social "affliction".

After taking a moment to properly compose himself Naruto started to read the notes explaining what everything meant. Even though he knew what most of it meant from past games he played he still felt it was important to read in case something was different.

 **Gamer Rank:** Your gamer rank (GR) is the thing that determines what abilities you are granted as a gamer. At level one you have the most basic feature of your life being a game. At higher levels you will gain unique benefits and gamer abilities. Your gamer rank levels up as you complete certain hidden objectives or milestones.

 **VIT:** Your vitality determines how much health and endurance you have. The more you have the more of a beating you can take and live. Your HP goes up 70 per point in vitality.

 **STR:** This determine how much damage your physical attacks do. It decreases the damage you receive when you block, parry or counter an attack as well as recoil damage.

 **DEX:** Your dexterity controls your reflexes, agility and evasion. It also affects your bukijutsu.

 **INT:** Your intellect determines how easy it is to learn new information and jutsu. It also increases your chakra reserves. Your CP goes up by 170 per point in intellect.

 **WIS:** Wisdom determines how well you use what you know. Your wisdom increases your jutsu strength as well as chakra control. This also affects rational thinking.

 **LUK:** How often things randomly go in your favor.

 **Active Effects:** These are effects that affect you character in a variety of ways. They can be positive, negative or in between.

" **CLICK THE BACK BUTTON TO CONTINUE."**

"Well most of this seems self-explanatory so that's a good thing. Although, the gamer rank is a new concept to me and sounds like a pain to level," said Naruto. He didn't voice it but was curious as to what the other benefits could be.

' _Having this is going to come in REAL handy the more I think of it. It gives me a direct way to control my progress in life…Plus….plus….PLUS IT'S SO FREAKING COOL!_

Whatever idea Naruto was formulating in his head was lost in the wave of excitement that filled his mind. After he composed himself he took a moment to read over the information once more for good measure. He then looked over his stats once more before pressing a small back arrow.

This time the skills tab was highlighted. He then tapped the screen and watched as it changed.

 **Combat**

 **Utility**

" **This is your skills tree. As you can see it is divided into two categories, combat skills and utility skills. The combat category contains all your combat-based abilities and skills. The Utility category has several different every day skills and proficiencies that could be useful.**

" **CHOOSE A CATEGORY TO CONTINUE."**

Naruto clicked on Utility and watched the screen change.

 **[Blacksmithing proficiency]: lv1 next lv=0/750 xp**

 **[Cooking Proficiency]: lv1 next lv=250/750 xp**

 **[Maintenance Proficiency]: lv5 next lv=759/3750 xp**

"Okay then, this is pretty cool. It looks like a bunch of trade skills. I bet I can unlock more as I'm exposed to more stuff," concluded Naruto as he rubbed his chin. He went back to the last screen and tapped combat. When he tapped it two more tabs appeared.

 **Abilities**

 **Perks**

Naruto's eye couldn't help but twitch a bit. Disregarding his annoyance, he tapped abilities first.

 **Jutsu**

 **Weapon proficiency**

"More tabs!? Come on man!" If Naruto was annoyed earlier, he was thoroughly pissed now. In his aggravation he accidently pressed weapon proficiency.

 **Weapons Skill List**

 **[Kunai]: lv6 next lv=250/4500**

Accuracy: 40%

Dmg multiplier: 1.6

 **[Shuriken]: lv4 next lv=575/3000**

Accuracy: 20%

Dmg multiplier: 1.4

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

Naruto looked at the menu with mild interest. It was very self-explanatory, so he tapped the back arrow and tapped on jutsu. He saw a drop-down list:

 **Taijutsu**

 **Ninjutsu**

 **Genjutsu**

 **Fuinjutsu**

The eye twitch came back ten-fold. Forcing down the urge to scream out to the heavens in frustration, he clicked on Taijutsu.

 **Taijutsu Styles**

 **[Brawler Style]: lv5 next lv=750/3750**

 **[Beginner-Academy Style (flawed)]: lv3 next lv=750/2250**

Naruto's brow furrowed as he looked at the academy style. He didn't get why it said flawed. He had "learned" the style like the rest of his class from a surprise end of year lesson. Iruka had asked one of his co-workers to teach them the basics of it as a reward for being such a good class.

Admittedly, it was rushed because first year students weren't supposed to learn any practical skills but that still didn't seem like grounds enough for it to be considered flawed. Did he get something wrong during the lesson? Maybe or maybe not.

The blond blew a raspberry before speaking aloud, "It doesn't really matter right now. I'll just make a note to talk to Iruka about it whenever I can."

Naruto then went back and clicked on the Ninjutsu tab.

 **Ninjutsu List**

 **Neutral:**

 **[Henge]: lv2 next lv=220/1500**

 **Chakra Cost: 5/CPM (chakra per minute)**

 **Rank: E**

 **Use:** The user casts an illusion over him/herself to change his appearance

 **[Kage Henge]: lv7 next lv=300/5250**

 **Chakra Cost: 20/CPM**

 **Rank: C**

 **Use:** The user makes a shell of chakra around him/herself to create a corporeal transformation. Upgrade of normal henge.

 **[Kawarmi]: lv6 next lv=400/4500**

 **Chakra Cost: 150**

 **Rank: E**

 **Use:** The user switches him/herself with a nearby object.

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

 **Chakra Cost: ?**

 **Rank: ?**

 **Use: ?**

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

 **Chakra Cost: ?**

 **Rank: ?**

 **Use: ?**

 **Katon:** **[None]**

 **Raiton:** **[None]**

 **Futon:** **[None]**

 **Donton:** **[None]**

 **Suiton:** **[None]**

Naruto couldn't help but crack a smile as he looked at the three simple jutsu in his possession. Much like with the academy style, he wasn't even supposed to know them yet. However, unlike the academy style, no one taught him these. He had learned them all by himself from spying on the upper-classmen.

Whenever he was put out of class or skipped he would almost always make a point to peek on the senior students. He would memorize the handseals they made and sneak off to practice them alongside his kunai and shuriken skills. It was painstakingly hard but over time he copied what he saw and got a leg up on some of his classmates.

The one thing that surprised him was the Kage Henge, but he guessed it made sense because when he first started his practice sessions, he had a ton of problems with the regular henge. He tried everything, but he could rarely get it to work. One day he tried supercharging it with his chakra and low and behold it worked.

He was confused at the name choice though. Why Shadow Henge instead of something like Solid Henge?

Weird.

Seeing no point in staying on the page any longer and having little interest in Genjutsu Naruto skipped over to Fuinjutsu. He had heard the term a few times in the past but didn't know the meaning.

 **Fuinjutsu Catalog**

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

 **Creation Time: ?/?/**

 **Class: ?**

 **Use: ?**

 **[?]: lv? next lv=?/?**

 **Creation Time: ?/?/**

 **Class: ?**

 **Use: ?**

Naruto was a little disappointed that the screen was empty. Seeing nothing else to do he pressed the info button at the top right corner.

 **Fuinjutsu:** A ancient and powerful art that uses kanji and ancient patterns to create powerful seals capable of incredible feats. Masters can vacuum up entire oceans, create bombs capable of leveling mountains, manipulate time-space, and even seal powerful beings. The downside is that fuinjutsu is a complex art, so few have mastered it. Although there are rare exceptions such as the Uzumaki Clan.

Naruto whistled in awe at the capabilities of Fuinjutsu. He made it a goal to learn about it. He felt jealous that an entire clan mastered the art. The Uzumaki were some lucky bastards!

Wait a minute…

Uzumaki?

….

….

….

That was _HIS_ last name!

Naruto felt his young body grow weak. He was certain that if he had been standing he would've collapsed by now.

The implications….it was…it meant…

Naruto shook his head to clear it. What it meant was clear…

…

He had a clan.

…

 _HE_ had a _**CLAN**_!

Could it be a fluke? If not how big where they? Who else knew and why was he just now finding out? So many questions and so few answers.

So many thoughts were racing through the blond's head that it began to ache.

"I have a clan," the words sounded wrong, "correction, I _could_ have a clan," that sounded better. As excited as he was about the possibility of having family, the idea just seemed…impossible.

"I..I need to talk to someone about this," said Naruto as he grabbed his head. He wanted to put more thought into this development, he really did, but his head was killing him now and his concentration was slipping.

Deciding that the quicker he took his mind off it the better, Naruto went back to the main menu and clicked on the quest Icon. He was greeted by the following:

 **Main Quests**

 **Side Quests**

 **Event Quests**

Seeing nothing else available Naruto tapped the help button. He was then greeted by GN's voice.

" **This is your quest tab. From here you can view and track all your wonderful adventures. Quests are broken down into three categories: Main, side and event quests. Main Quests are your most basic and vital quests. Main quest is required to progress your story and tend to be very long and difficult. Because of this, main quests yield high rewards upon completion. Keep in mind main quests are not avoidable & if you go an excessive period without doing one you will automatically be forced into your next available one."**

" **Next up are side quests. Side quests are far easier and more numerous than main quests. As a result, they are less rewarding but still infinitely useful. Some sides quests can prove to be challenging and provide rare rewards. Lastly, there is Event Quests. Events quests are extremely rare quests that randomly spawn around the world for a limited time. Event quests can very upon type and objective, but upon a successful completion you can expect powerful and unique rewards. Note: Quests are meant to be used as guides to push you along and** _ **nothing**_ **more. This is your world and there are infinitely many ways it could play out. You make your own fate."**

Naruto silently took all that information before going to his last stop for now. He went to back to the main menu and tapped on R&R. Here's what he saw:

 **Reputation**

 **Relations**

The watch then went on to explain that Reputation was his standing with factions or places i.e. Clans or villages and worked off the following ranks: **Exalted, Honored, Liked, Neutral, Disliked, Hated and Exiled**. Relations was his individual relationship with anyone he has made meaningful contact with and worked with the following ranks: **Family, Friends, Comrades, Civil, Disliked, Despised, Enemies**. It also explained that could be increased _or_ _decreased_ through various ways.Knowing this he checked his reputation in Konoha

 **Reputation**

 _ **Konohagakure no Sato**_

General Rep=Disliked

 **Hyuuga clan= Disliked: 4000/6000**

 **Inuzuka clan= Liked: 2500/6000**

 **Akimichi clan= Liked: 100/6000**

 **Yamanaka clan= Neutral: 0/4000**

 **Nara clan= Neutral: 0/4000**

 **Aburame clan= Liked: 400/6000**

 **Konoha General store= Hated: 7500/8000**

 **Burning Leaf Market= Disliked: 250/6000**

 **Shinobi outfitters= Exiled: 100/10000**

"To be honest, it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Not to mention, I always thought that guy at the ninja store had a grudge! Surprised the Inuzuka like me so much though," said Naruto.

He decided to see how his relationships stacked up to his reputation, so he checked that next.

 **Relationships**

 **Platonic**

 **N/A**

After selecting the only available option the following list pulled up.

 **HIruzen Sarutobi=Family:1500/10000**

 **Iruka Umino=Friends:4000/8000**

 **Ichiraku Family=Family: 3000/10000**

 **Inu=Friends: 4000/8000**

 **Neko=Friends: 1000/8000**

 **Hebi=Friends: 2000/8000**

 **Landlord=Despised: 5000/6000**

 **Hinata Hyuuga=?: 8000/10000**

 **Kiba Inuzuka=Neutral: 200/4000**

 **Shino Aburame=Neutral: 300/4000**

 **Ino Yamanaka=Disliked: 5000/6000**

 **Chouji Akimichi=Comrades: 100/6000**

 **Shikamaru Nara=Comrades: 50/6000**

 **Sakura Haruno=Disliked: 59996000**

 **Sasuke Uchiha=Disliked: 4000/6000**

Left with nothing else to do Naruto closed the page and went to the normal home screen and just processed what he heard and read. Aside from the Uzumaki clan thing Naruto had been taking everything in rather calmly all things considered.

He had been observing it with a level head and looking at it from an objective standpoint to view the pros and cons. Seeing as there were no cons in sight and limitless possibilities….he was literally shaking in excitement!

"Okay, you gotta be kidding! Not only does it look cool it also turns my life into a video game! A freaking _video game!_ With this I have complete control over my life. If play my cards right I could have or do anything I want! This thing….is just complete hacks!" yelled out a joyous Naruto.

He sat down for a good long while thinking about all the different things he could do. Eventually he had pondered enough and was about to fix himself something to eat until…

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

Someone knocked on his door _exceedingly_ loud. Getting over the initial surprise he headed to the door to see who it was and quite possibly give them a piece of his mind.

"Hey! What's the big idea! Are you….oh, it's you," said Naruto as he stared in at the person in front of him. The man that stood before Naruto was none other than his landlord. He was a bald middle-aged man that stood 5'10" and wore a brown trench coat.

His brown eyes looked Naruto over with disinterest while stroking his grey beard before finally speaking. "Yeah, it's me brat. Rents due by the end of the day so pay up or... GET OUT!"

He turned to walk away. Only to stop and look over his shoulder and speak to the blond again. "Not sure why you're still here but the Academy starts in 15 minutes so if you don't want to be late better get a move on ya dumb brat," said the landlord in his gruff voice. With that said, he walked away.

Naruto's eye bucked. He had completely forgotten. Today was the start of his 2nd year at the Academy. He had intended to be early today but the whole gamer thing distracted him. He grabbed his gear and started to head out, but suddenly a notification appeared in front of him.

 **[Side Quests Unlocked]**

 **Uzumaki Legends: While learning about the concept of fuinjutsu and the games application of it; you discovered the Uzumaki Clan. They were a clan so skilled in fuinjutsu that they were revered and feared all throughout the elemental nations. A clan that you just so happen to share the same name last name with. Is it coincidence or something more? Maybe Iruka will know something…**

 **Objectives**

 **Ask Iruka Umino about the Uzumaki Clan.**

 **Completion Rewards: 500 Ryo, 400 xp, +200 rep with Iruka Umino**

 **Failure: 100 ryo, +40 xp**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

 **Rents Due: It's that time of the month again. Your landlord stopped by and basically said. "Pay up or get out". What a standup guy.**

 **Objective**

 **Pay your landlord 2500 ryo by 10 p.m. tonight.**

 **Completion Rewards: 100 xp, +1000 rep w/ Landlord, +500 rep w/ Hiruzen Sarutobi, +100 rep w/ Konohagakure**

 **Failure: 10 xp, -4000 rep w/ Landlord, -3000 rep w/ Hiruzen Sarutobi, -2500 rep w/ Konohagakure. Permanent eviction from apartment.**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

"Like I have a choice," muttered Naruto. He quickly accepted both only to see a third quest appear.'

 **[Main Quest Unlocked]**

 **A New Year, A New Start: It's the start of the 2nd year of the Academy and you want to make a good impression. Don't be late!**

 **[note: timer starts upon accepting]**

 **Objectives**

 **Get the Academy within 15 minutes**

 **?**

 **?**

 **Completion Rewards: 500 xp, +1000 rep w/ Iruka Umino, +200 rep w/ all classmates.**

 **Failure: 50 xp, -1000 rep w/ Iruka Umino, -300 rep w/ most classmates.**

 **Accept?**

 **[Yes]**

"Huh, there's no decline option for this one. Not that I would but still…. And what's with the question marks? Must be because it's a main quest," said Naruto while a voice filled with curiosity. He then looked at both the time limit and the failure rewards once more.

He sighed and said, " I need to get all the way to the academy in 15 minutes? Oh, this is gonna suck! Well here goes nothing!"

He accepted the quest and shot off like a rocket. He took to the roofs knowing that he couldn't go as fast on the streets. He was determined to get to class on time.

 _ **(Time style: Time skip no jutsu)**_

Naruto had been running for about around 4 minutes and had made decent distance but still had a long way to go. _'At this rate I'm not gonna make it,'_ thought Naruto as he gauged the distance between himself and the academy. He went into a trance and ran as fast as he could but then….

 _SCREEEEEEEEEEEE! MMMEEEEEOOOOOWW!_

He stopped cold in his tracks as he heard one of the worst sounds in his life. He peered over the edge of the roof he was on and saw a white cat with black stripes running across its body, much like a tiger's stripes, and a red ribbon on its ear. It was screaming since a lady who was a few pounds shy of being legally classified as a hippo was hugging it death.

"Oh Tora-chan! I know you love mommy but there's no need to scream so loudly. I can only give you so much attention while we're here. When we get home, I'll give you all the hugs and kisses you'd ever want!" said the lady. If anything, the now identified Tora seemed to squirm and scream even harder at the mention of more "affection".

Naruto stared on with a mix of horror, pity and a strange sense of fascination. Suddenly, Tora looked up and their eyes locked. It was only for split second, but Tora seemed to speak to Naruto. Her eyes may have done the talking but Naruto read the message loud and clear.

 _Save me….please!_

He grit his teeth and thought, _'I don't have time for this! I need to get to the Academy!'_

Tora's desperate screams rang out through the air.

' _Alright dammit! I'll have to be fast!'_ he thought. He eyed a small rock on the roof. He grabbed it and tossed it at her head.

She let out a screech as Naruto ducked down. In her surprised state Tora was able to sneak away. "Hey! Who did that! Do you know who I am? I'm the wife of the Fire Daimyo and I'll- Oh no! Tora come back!" exclaimed the Daimyo's wife. She tried to chase after Tora, but she exhausted herself after a few seconds.

During her escape Tora seemed to look at Naruto again.

 _Thank you_

Naruto smiled. In his mind he had done something good. He saved a defenseless cat from what he classified as domestic abuse. Little did he know the horror he had unleashed on genin everywhere. He eyed the timer in the top right of his vision and became alarmed.

He only had _nine_ minutes left!

He ran as fast as he could and then some. He refused to fail his first quest! His pride just wouldn't allow it! He pushed his muscles to their limit. _'Faster! Faster! Must go Faster! Won't be Late,'_ was the mantra he chanted in his head. He started pumping chakra to his limbs without even realizing it.

He just kept going faster and faster. He had never gone this fast ever before in his life. In the back of his mind he thought of a comic he read involving a little blue hedgehog. With one final war cry he broke his limit and it all became a blur of movement!

' _YONDAIME AIN'T GOT JACK ON ME!'_

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Patch Notes (7/12/19):** I cleaned up the grammar for the entire chapter. It's not perfect even now but I think it's a fair bit better than before.

I changed the dialogue a bit so Naruto not only seems more level headed but helped limit the amount of times him speaking mirrored the 3rd person text and I gave him a more meaningful reaction to the Uzumaki clan.

I added the Gamer Rank system to give me a tool to better explore the games mechanics and showcase how it changes.

I changed the beginning scene so it's a little less goofy.

I also made some minor changes to fit with the continuity I have set. Such as removing the Uchiha Clan from the reputation list and changing how Naruto learned his jutsu.

 **Well that's most of the big stuff I did. There may be smaller things I forgot to mention but that should be most of it. What do you all think of the new and improved Chapter. Better? Worse? Review and let me know please. Peace!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Naruto: Game On**_

 _ **Chapter 2:**_ _ **Learning**_

 **Edited & Revised: 7/13/19**

 _ **A/N: Ayo! Welcome to the 2nd chapter of Naruto: Game On. After the first chapter did so well I figured I would finish up this one and post it. As it was already a third of the way done. I don't know how but I somehow got myself to write 4k words in just over 24 hours. I'm tired but proud. This is kind of fresh off the press and may have a few errors. I try to be careful when I write but the longer you write in one sitting the more prone to errors you are. It also doesn't help that I don't have a beta right now and I find rereading my own work a bit tedious. If you catch anything feel free to leave a comment about it and I'll try to fix it.**_

 _ **Also, just a FYI but hopefully the 3rd chapter will be out by the end of the month. I worked hard to finish this one up so I'm taking a few days off to unwind and work out some more of the storyboard. Also, I'm going to have to work around school when I start back. Anyway….This chapter has a LOT more story compared to last one, so I hope you enjoy.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the mentioned works.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Exhausted.

That was the one word to describe how Naruto felt.

He was flat on his back and panting like a dog. One moment he was helping save a cat from a gruesome death via suffocation. The next he was blurring across the rooftops of Kohona at speeds that seemed impossible.

He wasn't sure why it mattered so much. Maybe it was his pride. Maybe he just really didn't want to fail his first quest. Regardless, the result was the same. He had pushed his young body to its limit and was paying for it. When he reached the grounds of the academy he dropped like log.

He was out of chakra and too stiff to do anything other than stare dumbly at the words in air above him. Oh, on a side note. He learned the notifications were holograms generated by his watch.

Oh wait...that was already established….

 _By pushing your body to its limit your STR, DEX and VIT have all increased by +2._

 _A skill has been created_ **[Hyper-Stride]**

' _Huh, what's this?'_ thought Naruto. He went to his skills page and saw it listed under ninjutsu.

 **[Hyper-Stride]: unranked next lv= 0/100**

 **Info:** Using chakra you increase your bodies speed and reaction time far beyond what even normal chakra enhancement is capable of. Due to this the technique is chakra intensive.

 **Skill Type:** Toggle+enhancement

 **Effect:** Increase movement speed 100%

 **Drain:** 15CP per second

' _Huh. That's pretty damn cool! I can definitely see some uses for this. The only downside is the chakra drain,_ ' said Naruto in his head. He checked his status and saw that he was out of chakra, had the 'fatigue' status effect for 20 seconds and was missing some health.

' _Hmm, I'm out of chakra and some health's missing. Did the jutsu start using my HP to sustain itself once I was out of chakra? And if that's the case then the fatigue is a given. I'll have to try to make sure I never run out of chakra or that could be a problem._ ' thought the blond.

Slowly, he felt his muscles start to respond to his commands, so he got up and walked the last few yards and entered the academy. The blond swiftly walked the halls until he reached his classroom. He saw his sensei standing outside the doorway greeting students as he entered.

A notification popped up.

 **Quest Complete:**

 **A New Year, A New Start**

 **Objectives Complete**

 **Get the Academy within 15 minutes-complete**

 **HIdden Obj: Help Tora the Cat-complete**

 **HIdden Obj: Make it to the academy with 5 or more minutes remaining-complete**

 **Rewards:** **500 xp, +1000 rep w/ Iruka Umino, +200 rep w/ all classmates.**

 **Bonus Rewards: 1000xp, +500 rep w/ Iruka Umino, +150 rep w/ all classmates, +11,000 rep w/ Tora.**

Naruto couldn't help the sense of satisfaction that came over him. He guessed he was entitled to it though. Even if he didn't do much, It was still his first quest completion. He couldn't help the excitement. He let a smirk grace his face while wondering " _What's next?_ ".

"NARUTO!?" yelled a voice.

Said blond was startled out of his thoughts at the startled voice of his teacher. He peeled his eyes away from the holographic words and stared at Iruka's shocked visage.

"Yo," was all Naruto said.

"You-You're….early?" asked a confused Iruka.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be? Don't tell me you thought that I would actually be late on the first day back?"

"But you were almost always late last year. In fact, you also had the most absences in the history of the Academy!"

"That's because we were being taught all the boring stuff last year. If you remember, I barely missed a day once you started teaching us."

That much was true. When Iruka started teaching the class in last month and a half of the school year Naruto was almost always present. In fact, he had taken a bit of a shining to the little blond. He couldn't even completely fault him for saying the 1st year was boring. It was basically civilian school on steroids. But it was still important.

Iruka sighed, "I guess you're a little right Naruto. The first year is never the most exciting and you _were_ still good enough to pass. But don't you even think of skipping this year!" Said the chunin.

Naruto cracked a smile and said, "I wouldn't dream of it. I get to learn all the cool stuff this year!"

"Heh, I know you won't Naruto. Now, get to class!" Said Iruka with a sigh.

Naruto simply smiled before heading into the classroom. Everyone inside was busy talking so all but a few noticed his presence. He took a seat in the far back and closed his eyes in thought.

' _Sorry sensei but I had no way of controlling it when those garbage teachers kicked me out of class!'_ Raged the Uzumaki in silence.

He let out a near inaudible growl as memories assaulted him.

' _I'm sorry, but Naruto-_ _ **san**_. _..could you step out for a few minutes?'_

Hours felt like a much better word.

' _Hey! I saw you throw that paper! Out now!'_

He hadn't tossed anything.

' _Uzumaki, your_ _ **excused**_ _from this lesson due to your_ _ **condition**_ _. Please leave.'_

Why and what condition?

' _I thought I told you to stop talking_ _ **brat**_ _! Go to the principal's office_ _ **now**_ _!'_

He never said a word the entire class.

' _Out of the classroom brat! This lesson is for students who are actually smart. Not_ _ **animals**_ _like yourself. Besides, wouldn't you rather be wasting your time pranking the good citizens of this village?'_

The humiliation _hurt_.

By the time he was done going down memory lane he was visibly shaking, and his fists were clenched so hard he nearly drew blood.

The only thing that pulled him out of his thoughts was a headache that was steadily growing more painful in joint with his anger.

He let out of huff before whispering to himself, "I just don't get it. What the hell did I ever do to them to get treated like shit? They tried their absolute best to make sure I failed miserably."

True to his word the civilians had went out of their way to make sure he missed as many classes as possible. If he had to guess, Naruto estimated that he had missed roughly a third of his classes last year.

That was honestly the largest inspiration for his training sessions the year prior. He was honestly scared they might just kick him out one day. The amount of "missed" days he had would've been more than enough to be expelled.

Why he wasn't? He had no clue.

What he did have a clue about was the fact that being kicked out of the academy would've almost completely destroyed any hope he had of being a ninja.

He couldn't let his dream die like that. He _wouldn't_ let his dream die like that.

The year was long and grueling, but he managed to learn just enough to get by. Even if only by the skin of his teeth.

Iruka was different though. He treated Naruto like a normal student and gave him a fair chance. That made the blond quickly take a liking to him. The fact that he was a pretty good shinobi also gave him some"cool points" in the Uzumaki's book. Naruto was broken out of his thoughts when he felt someone brush up against him. He opened his eyes and saw the emo prince himself, Sasuke Uchiha, walk past and sit next to the far window.

Naruto looked intently at the Uchiha. The guy's attitude never set right with him. He was always so cold and distant to everyone around him. It didn't matter who you were or what you did. You would still get the cold shoulder.

Naruto wasn't an idiot though. He knew that Sasuke wasn't always like this and what caused him to change so much. About halfway through last year his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, flipped out and killed the rest of the Uchiha clan except for him.

He had had a family that loved and care for him. Nearly idolized him in fact. Only to suddenly have it ripped away by the person you adored.

Then he was alone.

Left all by himself with nothing but questions that would go unanswered and the only thing to comfort him was the soul chillingly loneliness.

Naruto couldn't relate to the feeling of loss since he never had but he most certainly understood what it felt like to be alone. He understood the sorrow and misery isolation brought upon a person and he intimately understood the anger that built when your questions went unanswered.

In that sense he could relate to the Uchiha so much it hurt, but what bothered him was how he behaved. Unlike him, Sasuke _had_ people who at least acted like they cared for him and went out of their way to cheer him up. Yet, Sasuke shut them out completely and grew cold towards them all.

Yes, Naruto most certainly _could_ understand his pain, but he _didn't_ agree with his actions.

His train of thought was broken yet again when he saw words appear over Sasuke's head.

 **Name:** Uchiha Sasuke

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Last Uchiha_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv8 next lv=560/8000

 _A new ability has been unlocked_ **[Observe]**

 **[Observe]: Rank 1**

 **Info:** Observe is a gamer ability that allows you to see the stats of those around you and things you interact with. This ability has 3 ranks and levels up passively. With each increase in rank the info shown becomes more detailed.

' _You'd think that something like this would just be built into the system. I wonder what the others stats are,_ ' thought Naruto.

It was that train of thought that caused Naruto to look over the classroom. Looking around the classroom he saw mostly everyone was between lv 3 and 4. That being said, there were a few that broke the trend for better or worse.

 **Name:** Sakura Haruno

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Fangirl supreme_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv1 next lv=360/1000

Well….the good news is that she was the only case of being worse than the trend…

 **Name:** Hinata Hyuuga

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Hyuuga Heiress_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv6 next lv=?/?

 **Name:** Kiba Inuzuka

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Inuzuka Heir_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv7 next lv=?/?

 **Name:** Shino Aburame

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Aburame heir_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv 6 next lv=?/?

 **Name:** Shikamaru Nara

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Nara heir_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv7 next lv=?/?

 **Name:** Ino Yamanaka

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Yamanaka heiress_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv4 next lv=?/?

 **Name:** Choji Akimichi

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _Akimichi heir_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv6 next level ?/?

 **[Observe]'s rank has increased to 2**

" _It seems that when it comes to skill level I'm in the upper middle part of my class. That's not bad but I'm changing it as fast as I can,_ " thought the blond, conviction in his voice.

"-to."

" _I mean…if I'm gonna be a kage, then being average just isn't gonna cut it,_ " Continued Naruto.

"-ruto!"

" _I wonder why Sakura's level is so low? I know she's smart. Maybe she just doesn't train a lot?_ " He was genuinely curious. It was _really_ low.

"Are you even listening Naruto!?"

"Hmm, she was kinda nice to me last year. Maybe I should talk to her about it sometime. I may even be able to help her out!" Concluded the boy.

" _ **NARUTO UZUMAKI! PAY ATTENTION TO ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING TO YOU DAMMIT!**_ " Shouted a _very_ angry Iruka.

Apparently, he was a little _too_ lost in thought….

Naruto nearly shot out of his seat in surprise. He looked towards the front of the class and saw the devil come-to-life, Iruka using _**Big Head No Jutsu**_ _._

"I would _very_ much appreciate it if you paid attention when I'm speaking Naruto," said the scarred Chunin in a dangerously _nice_ voice.

The only reply he got in return was a meek and quiet "sorry". Shaking his head with a smile he continued, "Anyways, as I was saying, we will be having our first target practice drill after lunch.

Iruka then produced a bag of pamphlets from behind his desk.

"These pamphlets have extra information about shuriken and kunai throwing that I didn't go over in the lecture as well as some more techniques and tips. I will give you a bit of time to look over them before we begin," he finished. He then started passing them out.

When Naruto received his something interesting happened.

 **You've received the skill book [Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu].**

 **Would you like to learn this skill?  
[Y/N]**

Naruto eyed the text that appeared before him and then curiously looked at the book in his hand. Following a few more seconds of staring he accepted….only for the pamphlet to dissolve in digital wisps.

"Uh….was that supposed to happen?" Questioned Naruto quietly. He was praying no one saw that. Peering around him he noticed no one seemed to be looking his away.

He sighed in relief and whispered, "I guess being a nobody paid off for once."

A wild notification suddenly appeared!

 _A skill has been created_ **[Beginner Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu].**

 **[Beginner Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu]: unranked next lv= 0/100**

 **Info:** The Basics are key! Level this skill up to improve your accuracy and skill with kunai and shuriken.*Stackable*

 **Skill Type:** Passive

 **Effect:** Bukijutsu accuracy increased by 0.1%

 **Drain:** none

" _Wait a minute! You mean to tell me it increases my accuracy by a TENTH of a PERCENT! The hell am I supposed to do with that?!"_ He shouted mentally.

He muttered a handful of inaudible curses under his breath before tuning back in to Iruka. He had finished passing out the pamphlets and had been going over the information It seems as if Naruto picked the perfect time seeing as Iruka chose that moment to stop lecturing and address the class again.

"Okay students you will now have the lunch period to review the information I've covered with the pamphlet. Afterwards I expect you to be ready for your initial assessment," Said the scarred-chunin in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

With that said a bell rang and everyone in the class file out to head to lunch. Naruto was one of the last to get up and leave. He was nearly out of the door when something happened.

 **Random Event! Luck Check!**

"Hey Naruto, why are your hands empty? What happened to your pamphlet? I gave you one, didn't I?" Questioned Iruka in a rapid-fire manner.

Naruto had to forcibly stop his eyes from widening in surprise. He kept a relatively passive face, but he was panicking on the inside. What was he gonna say? What was he gonna do? He couldn't very well say "Well you see sensei; my life is a living video game and when you gave me the pamphlet it went up in pixels" right?

No.

He couldn't tell Iruka about the game. He'd call him crazy and have him shipped to the psych ward, or better yet he would believe him and tell someone else. Then word would no doubt get to the council and they would have him shipped off to Torture and Interrogation to have him tell them all he knew about the game and find out if they could exploit it themselves!

Wait, could he tell anyone? Could he even trust the Old Man or the Ichiraku's? Most likely not! The realization of just how bizarre his situation was and the fact that he would have to lie constantly to keep it secret was set in all at once. When combined with Iruka patiently waiting for a response he couldn't handle it. His brain was shutting down.

Then suddenly everything calmed down. His mind cleared and he felt like he was sharper than ever. In his focused state he realized that this had to be gamers mind. He then subconsciously repeated what Iruka said to him and his final question stuck out for some reason. Iruka had asked him if he had given him a pamphlet. He didn't remember fully! That was his way out.

Naruto went to speak but suddenly as quick as the idea came it was gone. He couldn't remember what he was going to say. It was as if someone or something ripped the

words clean from his mouth. With that realization the panic set back in full force and he did the only thing he could think of.

"Hehehe...well the thing is sensei...Gotta go!" Yelled the blond as he bolted out the door, down the halls and to the courtyard. Leaving one very stunned and confused Umino Iruka.

"That kid….I swear. I'll never know what goes on in that mind of his," said the scar nosed teacher as he scratched his head humorously.

 **(Scene Change: Academy Courtyard)**

Naruto had made a mad dash to the courtyard. Hoping and praying that Iruka wouldn't chase him and press the issue. Once he realized he wasn't being followed he chose to double back to where he kept his hidden stash of ration and protein bars for lunch. He could only really afford ramen and the bars.

Given that there was no way he could use the microwave the choice was obvious. He also had to make sure they were hidden since his apartment was often broken into as well as his school locker.

After securing his food he sat down under a tree on the far side of the courtyard and started snacking while he thought over what happened minutes ago with his sensei.

"What the hell was that? It was like my mind just blanked. Did gamers mind glitch out or something?" He asked to no one in particular.

His train of thought continued until…

 **Random event! Luck check! Failed! -1 to luck skill.**

"Wait what? I lost a stat!" Exclaimed Naruto. He was about to go on a tirade but then…

 **Error! Error! Random Eve- Error! Error- Lu-Ch-Error! Fai-Error! Not Fo-Error!**

 **Random Event! Luck Check! Passed! +1 skill point.**

"Okay then….definitely a glitch," said the blond. He had just watched the game have an aneurysm. There honestly wasn't much to say. He'd take the skill point though. With that issue resolved he decided it was a good time to do a recap of today's events thus far.

"So, let's get this straight. I wake up. See a strange glowing light. Touch it like a dumbass. Turn the entirety of my life into a video game. Spend waaaay too long reading explanations and other bs before my asshole landlord comes by and gives me a bs quest to pay him money. Which I still haven't done yet. Then I get a quest that I can't refuse that wants me to get to academy on time…." he paused for air.

"...only to find out the quest had two hidden objectives. One of which I discovered while hauling ass to said academy and turned out to be saving a poor cat from a fat chick. The other was achieved after I apparently made a skill by nearly killing myself sprinting and arrived early. And the rest happened to recently for me to bother repeating. Also, I'm talking to myself because I'm frustrated at the day's events and need an outlet!" He finished somewhat loudly. Though due to the distance he was away from everyone else no one heard.

If one was to listen extremely carefully they may have heard a cute sneeze drifting in the wind. Strangely emanating from the fence a few feet behind the tree our favorite Uzumaki was sitting under.

"Yeah, it's definitely a Monday….," muttered the blond.

Sighing said Uzumaki pondered on something that was bugging him. _'I wonder if what happened to that pamphlet happens to any scroll or informative book I touch? If so does it only work once, or can it be repeated? And if it is repeatable then what happens? Ugh, it doesn't matter. I'll probably figure it out sooner or later,'_ thought the blond Uzumaki.

His eyes drifted over the courtyard and scanned over his classmates. While doing this he noticed the distinct lack of Hinata Hyuuga. Now that in and of itself was rather common and therefore forgettable but this time it managed to spark a dormant train of thought.

"Huh, now that I think about it wasn't there something a little off about Hinata's status on my relationship page?" Questioned Naruto. Deciding to verify himself. He used his watch and went to R&R (reputation and relationships) and pulled hers up.

 **Hinata Hyuuga= ?: 8000/10000**

 ***Talk to her for more info***

"Yeah, like I thought. There are question marks instead of relationship rank and given its out of 10k she either really likes me or hates me. The thing is though, neither of those options makes much sense," said the blond. He hadn't done anything for or to her if he recalled right. He did prank the Hyuuga once but only the adults as per usual.

"The fact that it says talk to her is also new. I guess I'll figure it out later," decided Naruto tiredly. With that done he figured he would use the last of lunch for nap time. As he slowly fell asleep. He was none the wiser of the Hyuuga who overheard everything and _saw_ a fair bit via byakugan.

 **(Time Style: 10 Minute Timeskip no Jutsu)**

 **You have slept on the cold, hard ground. HP and chakra restored 25%.**

Awoken by the sound of the bell ringing. Naruto sprung up, stretched the crooks out of his back and headed back to class.

He was the last to get there and take his seat. After he sat Iruka spoke.

"It seems as if everyone is here so let's head to the academy training ground. Sakura " you lead the way," said the chunin. Getting a "Yes sensei" as a response. The class began filing out behind the pinkette and once again the blond was the last to move.

As he was passing by Iruka called out to him and pulled him aside.

"Hey Naruto. I'm not sure what happened earlier, and I honestly don't even want to know but here. Take this pamphlet. I'm not sure how much it'll help but you will at least have some idea of what you're doing when it's your turn to go," said the teacher as he handed Naruto the item.

The blond grabbed it before speaking, "Yeah, thanks sensei but it's ok. I actually listened to what you said plus I was able to get a student let me see theirs at lunch".

"Also, I'm not really sure what happened earlier. You just forgot to give me one. I guess I was just a little flustered you called me out on it plus my stomach was bothering me at the time," said Naruto as he mixed truth with lies to add credibility.

Iruka smiled before saying, "I find the whole 'you listening' thing hard to believe but I'll buy it". He then patted the kids head before telling him to hurry up and walked out.

A notification has challenged you to a battle!

 **You've received the skill book [Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu].**

 **Would you like to learn this skill?  
[Y/N]**

Deciding to see what happened Naruto clicked yes once more.

 **You have already learned this skill and cannot relearn it.**

Well that was a bummer. He was hoping something interesting would happen. Time to go catch up he guessed.

 **(Scene change: Academy training ground)**

Iruka stood in front of his class about two dozen feet from five hole-riddled training posts. The chunin instructor cleared his throat before addressing the class.

"Alright, this is where you'll have your target practice drills from now on. You will be given ten kunai and ten shuriken," started the instructor.

"Your objective will be to hit each target twice in a vital spot for a perfect score of 10 out of 10. Your accuracy with both the kunai and shuriken will make up your overall score of 20 out of 20. To pass you need a score of 40% or more. So, with that said, any volunteers?" Questioned Iruka as he finished explaining.

Naruto watched quietly off from the side as Iruka gave his explanation. _'Ya know….I wonder if this is a quest? Maybe a repeatable one?'_ He watched as a civilian chose to go first and felt sorry for him as he only got a 6/20. The kid seemed distraught but Iruka convinced him he would have another shot.

This process continued as more less memorable kids volunteered with varying success rates. Then slowly but surely more recognizable faces started stepping up to take their turn. First the lazy bum of a Nara, followed by Sakura, then Hinata, etc. Then it was Sasuke's turn. The smug bastard got a 19/20. Only just missing one shuriken.

Before he knew it, he was up and Iruka gave him his weapons of choice while going over the rules again.

A notification appeared.

 **[Side Quests Unlocked]**

 **It's all in the wrist(*): It's your first official target practice drill. Don't make a fool of yourself!**

 **Objectives**

 **Pass with a score of 40% or higher**

 **?**

 **?**

 **Completion Rewards: 500 Ryo, 500 xp, +100 rep with Iruka Umino, +50 rep with all classmates**

 **Failure: 100 ryo, +50 xp**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

' _I called it!'_

After his little mental victory. He realized that it would look kinda awkward to raise his hand and tap yes. So instead he tried imagining accepting and….it worked! Add that to today's list of W's.

' _Alright, focus up. Both the game and Iruka need me to pass with a score of 40% or 8/20. Not bad just gotta calm my nerves and not be intimidated by the Uchiha's score...no problem.'_ he thought as he worked himself up.

He let the kunai fly first. Flicking them two at a time. They cut through the air with a sharp whistle.

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

Seven. Not bad at all. Pretty good honestly. Now he just needed one shuriken to hit and he insta passed. Shouldn't be hard. He grabbed the Shuriken and repeated the process.

…

…..

Nothing. Not a damn thing hit. Every single one grazed a target but no purchase. Damn him and his big mouth….mind?

"Aye, it's alright Naruto. You didn't do bad. The shuriken are lot harder than the kunai in my opinion anyway," comforted his chunin instructor.

"Yeah, I know. Plus, I have two more tries. Still sucks though," replied the blond. His pride was a little damaged, but he was determined to redeem himself.

He was the last to go and when he stepped back into the crowd Iruka said it was time for repeats. Most took it but a few such as the Uchiha chose to keep their scores. No need to damage his "record".

Naruto noted that the order was decidedly different this time it seemed as if those who did the worst went first. As such he got his turn a fair bit quicker. Right around mid-way through this time.

He stepped up once again and Iruka gave him a nod and pat on the back. He took a breath and let the kunai fly.

Eight resounding _thunks_ were heard. Good. Now he really had to focus. No way he was failing twice in a row. This time he took each shuriken and threw each individually in a rapid-fire manner. Cutting through the air with an audible _whoosh_ he was rewarded with the following:

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Thump!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Thump!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Thump!_

 _!Snickt!_

Seven slashed the targets as they whizzed by. Three found purchase. Sinking into the hay filled dummies. 11/20? He could work with that.

"Hey! Good job! That's better Naruto. It's also a passing score. Feel proud," beamed Iruka.

Naruto allowed a small smile to set itself upon his as he gave a "Thank you sensei." and got back in line. He still wasn't pleased with his shuriken accuracy, but he did what he said he would. A pass is a pass after all.

Naruto decided to lay down off to the side and observe as the cycle continued and started again. The third time around considerably less people decided to retry, and Naruto was one of the last to go. He happened to be going after Kiba this time around.

Speaking of said person…

"Hey Naruto! I bet you can't beat my score dead-last" Exclaimed the Inuzuka. He was mighty proud of his score of 14.

Naruto felt his eye twitch…

"So, he wants to make it a competition huh? Ok then," Muttered the pissed Uzumaki. He could do that…

"JUST WATCH ME MUTT!" Retorted Naruto as he stepped up. He grabbed his kunai as he tuned out Iruka and focused on the targets. He let loose the kunai and 10 _thunks_ were heard.

Lightwork.

He went to grab to shuriken but paused. He had to be careful here as these were where he had the most problems. After two attempts he had gotten a feel for how they flew and how to adjust for their weight. If he took his time he was sure he could sco- You know what? Screw that! He was doing this the fun way!

"Luck don't fail me now," whispered the blond. He grabbed all ten and put five in each hand….then he let em rip.

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Snickt!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

 _!Thunk!_

He couldn't help the smirk that wormed its way onto his face. He didn't even need to turn around. He could just _feel_ Kiba's jaw drop and eye start to twitch. Out of the corner of his eye he could also see Iruka's equal part surprised/impressed look.

Mentally thanking his luck, he turned around and walked off back to where he had been sitting. With a quick glance his suspicions about the state of Kiba's face was confirmed and his smirk grew three sizes larger.

While he was musing over his latest accomplishment he absent mindedly noted Hinata went after him and was the last one up. She got a surprising 18/20. The second-best score behind Sasuke.

With the retries officially over Iruka cleared his throat once more and addressed the class.

"Well seeing as it was your first day back I think this is a good spot to call it a day. You all did great today! Go home and get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow will be a full day and lecture heavy,' started Iruka.

"If any of you need to get stuff from the classroom before you leave follow me," finished the teacher as he left.

 **Quest Complete:**

 **It's all in the wrist**

 **Objectives Complete**

 **Pass with a score of 40% or higher (80%)**

 **HIdden Obj: Pass with a score of 50% or higher**

 **HIdden Obj: Beat Kiba's score**

 **Rewards:** **500 ryo, 500 xp, +100 rep w/ Iruka Umino, +50 rep w/ all classmates.**

 **Bonus Rewards:1000 ryo, 1500xp, +500 rep w/ Iruka Umino, +200 rep w/ all classmates**

 **[Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu] has reached level two. Check for more info.**

 **You have reached lv 5! 5+ skill points.**

 **[Beginner Kunai and Shuriken Bukijutsu]: Lv2 next lv= 1150/1500**

 **Info:** The Basics are key! Level this skill up to improve your accuracy and skill with kunai and shuriken.*Stackable*

 **Skill Type:** Passive

 **Effect:** Bukijutsu accuracy increased by 2%

 **Drain:** none

He got 1.5k ryo and 2k xp from that? He'd take it. Not to mention he leveled up a skill twice and leveled up himself. Yeah, he definitely wouldn't complain.

It was at this moment Naruto remembered he need to talk to Iruka.

' _Didn't I have a quest to talk to him?"_ questioned Naruto. He referred to his GNW5k to check.

 **Uzumaki Legends: While learning about the concept of fuinjutsu and the games application of it; you discover the Uzumaki Clan. They were a clan so skilled in fuinjutsu that they were revered and feared all throughout the elemental nations. A clan that you just so happen to share the same name last name with. Is it coincidence or something more? Maybe Iruka will know something…**

 **Objectives**

 **Ask Iruka Umino about the Uzumaki Clan.**

 **Completion Rewards: 500 Ryo, 400 xp, +200 rep with Iruka Umino**

 **Failure: 100 ryo, +40 xp**

"Yup," he said to himself. He was about to take off after his sensei only to realize he should probably try to talk to Hinata first. So, he did just that….

Only to look around and find out she was nowhere to be seen.

…...shoot.

"Aaaand back to talking to Iruka," said the blond. With that he headed back towards class.

 **(Time style: A Few Minutes Later no Jutsu)**

When Naruto arrived at the classroom he noticed only Iruka was the only one left. He also realized that he might finally learn something about his family….or have his hopes crash and burn...

Perfect. He was nervous enough as is.

Iruka noticed him enter immediately. "You need something Naruto?" Questioned the Chuunin.

"Umm, yeah. I actually wanted to ask you something," was Naruto's slightly awkward response

"Okay, shoot."

"Have you ever heard of an Uzumaki Clan?"

"The Uzumaki?" Repeated Iruka.

"Yeah, do you know anything about them? Do they exist?" Pressed the blond rather nervously.

Iruka let out a small chuckle before replying, "Yeah, yeah. I know of them and they did exist".

"Well more than exist. More like thrive if anything. They had their own Hidden Village called Uzushiogakure and were even allied with Konohagakure up until the start of the third war," Finished Iruka.

They were real! The Uzumaki Clan actually existed! He may actually have family out there somewhere!

"Does that mean I'm a part of the clan then? Since my last name is Uzumaki?" Asked a _very_ excited Naruto.

Iruka scratched his chin before replying, "Hmm, you could be, or it could just be a surname. I wouldn't know for sure. I can tell you what I do know though. That spiral that's on your clothes and the back of every chunin and jounin jacket is their clan symbol. It was placed there to pay respect to their memory".

It was at this moment Naruto's gamer's mind kicked in to alert him of something.

"Wait. What do you mean by 'pay respect to their memory'?" Questioned the blond. He could feel a pit growing in his stomach.

"I'm sorry to break it to you but the Uzumaki clan was wiped out at the very start of the Third Great Shinobi War," said Iruka solemnly.

Just like that, his dreams of family had been crushed in an instant.

"Oh, I see…" was the despondent response received. He bowed his head. He really was alone.

Seeing the look in his student's eye Iruka tried to rectify the problem.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Cheer up! Their village was destroyed but I'm certain there are more than a few roaming the wilds!" Exclaimed the teacher in a desperate bid to cheer up his student.

Naruto looked up. A ray of hope visible in his eyes. Iruka pounced on it.

"And i'll tell you what. I'll do some digging to see if I can find out more about them. That way you can at least know about your clan and have knowledge of them. Deal?" Iruka asked with a smile present on his face.

Naruto cheered up exponentially. Giving a "Thank you Iruka-sensei" as a reply. He decided to ask his sensei something else while he was at it.

"Sensei, I don't suppose you could help me with my taijutsu?" Asked the blond. The "flawed" status attached to it annoyed him.

"Taijutsu? I haven't even officially begun to teach that yet. You all received an introduction last year as a bonus end of the year class but still. It's a little strange for you to ask for help on something I haven't even started on," retorted the teacher.

Naruto wasn't giving up.

"I know. It's just that I know clan kids tend to get a head start and I was just hoping that…," he trailed off.

Not exactly the real reason and a low blow for sure but hey, Naruto came from the streets.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

Iruka sighed before replying, "Alright, fine. That works out anyways because I can tell you what I find while training you. Come here this weekend and I give you some tips".

Naruto beamed before nodding and taking his leave. Leaving a smiling Iruka.

 **Quest Complete:**

 **Uzumaki Legends**

 **Objective Complete**

 **Ask Iruka Umino about the Uzumaki Clan.**

 **Rewards: 500 Ryo, 400 xp, +200 rep with Iruka Umino**

 **(Scene Change: Ichiraku's Ramen)**

About half an hour passed since Naruto's talk with Iruka and said blond could now be found munching down on his 7th bowl of ramen. That may seem like a lot but for the bottomless pit of a blond it was lightwork….and honestly kinda odd. He would normally be double his current amount. It seems like someone else took notice of this as well.

"Naruto-kun, is something wrong? You're eating kind of slow," asked Ayame Ichiraku. She was the brown haired 14-year-old daughter of Teuchi Ichiraku.

"Nah, I'm okay. Just got a lot on my mind Ayame-chan," replied Naruto. He was referring to the day's events. If his little episode at lunch didn't already say it…...a lot happened today. In his opinion he's handled it really well so far but it's still hard to believe his life was freaking _video game_! The experience would have to be a little shocking for anyone.

 **[Side Quest Unlocked]**

 **Of Combat and Family: After talking with Iruka you learned of the Uzumaki. You also got him to agree to help you with your taijutsu. He may also have extra information about the Uzumaki**

 **Objectives**

 **Train with Iruka Saturday**

 **Completion Rewards: 1000 Ryo, 800 xp, +400 rep with Iruka Umino**

 **Failure: 200 ryo, +80 xp**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

Speak of the devil...

' _Accept'_

"Okay then. If you say so Naruto-kun. Just remember we're here for ya, kay!" Exclaimed the girl as she passed him his eighth bowl of ramen.

He cracked a smile and nodded. He finished off that bowl and got one more. He figured he'd cut off at nine today.

"Alright, well I hate to cut off early today but I gotta keep some money for the rent," joked Naruto. He stood up and headed for the exit of the ramen stand

Ayame let out a giggle before waving him off.

When he was outside Naruto had an idea.

' _It might be a good time to practice my hyper-stride. I got nothing else to do,"_ thought the blond.

With that he activated hyper-stride and took to the roof…..or he would've if he actually knew how to activate it.

"Wait. How do I even activate it?" He said. The only time he actually used it was by reflex upon its creation. Maybe he had to say it aloud….

"Hyper-Stride active," he said. He took a step forward and...nothing.

It didn't work.

Maybe he had to say it louder? He went to speak before making the wise decision and heading into a nearby alley. He didn't want to have crazy added to his list of village stigmas.

"Hyper-Stride active!"

Still nothing.

"Toggle Hyper-stride!"

Nada.

"Enable Hyper-Stride!"

Nope, not today. Maybe he just had to think about turning it on?

He ran into a wall. He also lost 40% of his health. Aaaand he passed out.

 **(Time Style:2 Hour Time Skip no Jutsu)**

After waking up from an hour-long trip to la-la land. He took to the roofs for a solid hour and only stopped to regen chakra. During the downtown he would use **Observe** and noticed he could now see more detailed information about everyone. Including their stats. However, he noticed that anyone over level 15 had **?** for stats.

He also ranked up **Hyper-Stride** twice. It currently looked something like this.

 **[Hyper-Stride]: lv2 next lv= 376/1500**

 **Info:** Using chakra you increase your bodies speed and reaction time far beyond what even normal chakra enhancement is capable of. Due to this the technique is chakra intensive.

 **Skill Type:** Toggle+enhancement

 **Effect:** Increase movement speed 120%

 **Drain:** 15CP per second

Currently he was heading ho-...Never mind. He was already there. He opened the door and sat on his couch. He planned on regaining some energy before getting a snack and bath then heading to bed. Hopefully he would get some good slee-...

 _ **Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!**_

Son of a….

He got up and opened the door. Only to see his _lovely_ grouch of a landlord. He put his hand out expectantly.

"You gonna pay up or what brat?" Questioned the Landlord impatiently

"Yeah, yeah. I got your money. Just give me a sec," replied Naruto grumpily. He pulled out his Gama-chan wallet and pulled out some bills….only for them to be snatched out of his hand.

"Took you long enough. It's been a pleasure," said the Landlord. A smirk present on his face. Without another word he turned and left.

That guy…..he was definitely something.

 **Quest Complete:**

 **Pay up or get out**

 **Objective Complete**

 **Paid your rent by 10 p.m.**

 **Rewards:100 xp, +1000 rep w/ Landlord, +500 rep w/ Hiruzen Sarutobi, +100 rep w/ Konohagakure**

' _Screw you game'_

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Name:** Uzumaki Naruto

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:**

 **Gamer Rank: Rank 1**

 **Ryo:** 4500

 **Stat points available: 6**

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv5 next lv=500/3750

 **HP:** 2370/2370

 **CP:** 2100/2100

 **VIT:** 27 (10)

 **STR:** 8

 **DEX:** 6

 **INT:** 10

 **WIS:** 9 (5)

 **LUK:**?

 **Effects: ?** (+10 VIT, +5 WIS & 100% exp gain to [?] skill) **?** (+120 HP & +100 CP Per lv) **Pariah** (-25% to Konoha reputation gains) **Kami's Blessing** (9999999% increase to luck skill)

 **Bio:**

 **Naruto Uzumaki, a child whose origins are shrouded in mystery and false truths. He is the pariah of Konoha and as such he has been hated and treated unfairly by the Village all his life for reasons unknown. Due to this he developed a love of pranking and video games to alleviate his loneliness. Despite it all he still has hope in the people of Konoha and is driven by a unbreaking will and pure heart. Naruto strives to be a ninja of his village but has been handicapped every step of the way thus far. Rather he will crack under pressure and fall into darkness or rise above his oppression and forge a legend all his own remains to be seen.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Naruto: Game On**_

 _ **Chapter 3:**_ _ **Fight Club**_

 _ **WAIT!**_

 _ **Before you read, 2 things. 1) There's a more detailed A/N at the bottom where I talk about the story, how i plan to update, etc. 2) thx for reading!**_

 _ **(If you don't care about comment responses feel free 2 skip to story now)**_

 _ **Lump response: No need to worry. I'm not gonna stop writing this until it's done or I'm dead. I posted it so I'm gonna finish it.**_

 _ **NarutoBeatsGoku: As a fan of both franchise that name hurts and offends me! Lol, jk! Glad you like the story and yeah, it feels kinda weird to me as well. I'm planning on overhauling the game format soon just to make it a cleaner and more user friendly. Also, I'm not sure if there was a typing error or i just have selective dyslexia but, it didn't show the names of the girls you recommended. I could guess who some are based off how they relate to Naruto but i'd still like it if you say them again, so I can know for sure.**_

 _ **Wolfreapper: Interesting choices and good reasons. I wonder if you guessed any on my list? Only time will tell…**_

 _ **Ezeakel: Glad you think it's readable. I worry about grammar problems constantly. I try to check what I write but i'm not a big fan of proof reading chapters. I plan on going back and fixing some stuff in the last two chapters soon. If you catch anything here let me know. Also, I don't want 2 over complicate the game trust me. I'm a perfectionist, although lazy, when it comes to me doing stuff though. So, my brain instinctually over complicates it. I'm working on a detailed yet streamline final version to introduce hopefully soon. Lastly, I get the stigma with the creation ability. I've read stories where it's like Naruto breathes "A special skill has been created through a special act". Mine won't work that way I assure you. Even some of the no-duh ones like hyper-stride (inspired by Huntik: Secrets and Seekers) are a little different than what's normal (In this case: channeling chakra to the legs) and will serve a purpose. You won't see too many of those to begin with though, so it should be fine.**_

 _ **Soledge1: I've never heard of that series before. I'll look into it. Thx 4 reading.**_

 _ **Unwanted Writer: Pretty sure I responded well enough in the PM chat he had. Thx 4 reading though**_

 _ **darkstel: Once again, I could have selective dyslexia but I'm assuming you were talking about Unwanted Writer's review. In that case calm down! No need to accidentally get into a internet war rn. We talked about our opinions on it and are cool. Anywho, to address your comment. There's not much to say since you were mainly presenting your counter argument to another review which is fine. However, I would like to say I like the way you justify why certain pairings work/don't in regard to cannon and, to a lesser degree, my story. However, I do raise one counter argument to Kohona gaining another Jinchuuriki. (Just in general and not harem related). In my mind no other village has the right to be up in arms about it beyond "file that down for the important shit to know folder". My reason for this exists in the form of Iwa, Kumo and to a lesser degree Kiri. The 1st 2 each have 2 a piece with both from the later having full control. The 3rd had a kage jinchuuriki and another they let roam the wilds. Logically, I see where you are coming from though. Also damn! Poor Temari got no love from you! Lol, thx 4 reading.**_

 _ **Now b4 I wrap this up there's just one tiny little thing that needs to be addressed asap…. *Sigh*... Haku's gender.**_

 _ **Now wait! Before you get torches and pitchforks i'm letting one thing be known. In THIS story Haku and Naruto will not be anything beyond close friends with each other at any given point in time. However, Haku WILL be a GIRL in ALL my stories and i'll give a brief explanation as to why.**_

 _ **I was introduced to Naruto through fanfiction, seeing as I never actually watched the entire series (and probably never will. Hey! Don't judge me. 700+ episodes is intimidating as shit and if I crack after only 200 episodes of fairy tale I doubt I'd fare much better with Naruto. Especially since I know most of the main cannon events anyway.), and in most of the stories i read Haku was a girl. After learning more about Naruto I discovered her "cannon" gender and immediately rejected that shit! I don't know what type of weed Kishimoto was smoking when he decided to make a character that effeminate yet be a man, but I want none of it. Let's not forget that in Shippuden Edo-tensei Haku is literally wearing lipstick! If you really have problems accepting that fact, then let's compromise. The Haku in my stories isn't the one from cannon. Instead it's his distant cousin who he shares a name and face with. Nothing more! So, in conclusion Haku won't be "a Thai transvestite", at least to me, in my stories.**_

 _ **Okay! Im good now. Not angry or being homophobic. Just needed to clear the air with that one. Now everyone knows what lies ahead.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the mentioned works.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 **You have slept on your bed. HP and Chakra fully restored.**

' _Ugh, I don't wanna get up. Bed too comfy….'_

Relying on that train of thought the blond Uzumaki closed his eyes once more and waited for the gentle embrace of sleep to claim him once more.

...and waited

...and waited

...and waited some more

"Alright! I'm up!" Said the agitated child. He usually had no problem going back to sleep and even more strangely, the grogginess he felt moments ago was completely gone.

"Must be gamers mind," muttered Naruto. Figures the stupid game wouldn't let him sleep. He took a moment to sigh before casting away the negative attitude. Last night, after his landlord's rude appearance, he took some time to think about his situation and just how special it really was. His life WAS a game. He could have COMPLETE control over his life if he so chose. It would also give him a much clearer route to his goal of being a kage.

Yesterday he had been unexpectedly given a gift. One that changed his life drastically in a matter of minutes. He tried going with the flow, but the sheer insanity of the idea had eventually got to him. As evident by his courtyard outburst. However, he realized that in the end it was just adjustment disorder and he would get over it soon enough. Besides, it seemed as if the gamer thing had more positives than negatives.

May as well make the most of it.

With that train of thought finished he stood up and quickly got ready for the academy. He brushed his teeth and threw on his jumpsuit before shooting out the door like a blond bullet.

 **(Time style: 8-minute timeskip no jutsu)**

Naruto arrived at the academy only 8 minutes after he left the apartment. That was definitely a new record! Although he did have to credit that to his use of hyper-stride. Which was now level three by the way.

Putting those thoughts away he walked into the building, ignoring the glares of a few teachers and headed to his class. When he entered he was surprised to be the only one there. He took a seat in the top right corner of the class and waited for the others to come. First was Iruka. Who didn't notice him. Followed by Hinata who in turn was being tailed by the duo of Sakura and Ino.

The two fangirls were arguing over something, but he couldn't be bothered to find out what. He did however make a note to talk to the Hyuuga heiress at the first chance.

He watched a few more students entering before feeling himself grow unusually bored and unfocused. His vision faded in and out as he began to doze off. He vaguely noted the arrival of the Prince of Brooding before his vision faded to black.

 **(Time style: 12-minute timeskip no Jutsu)**

Naruto's eyes fluttered open before shooing away the message about him waking up. He blinked a few times before noting that the whole class was now here and Iruka was preparing to give his lecture for today. However, it was Iruka's next words that clued him in to something.

"Has anyone seen Naruto?" Questioned the teacher. He was taking role and the blond had yet to walk through the door…. or so he thought.

No one noticed him. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. He was about to announce his presence when….

 **[Sneak] skill has been increased to level 100-error! Error! Wrong ga- Error!**

' _This game and its glitches man…,'_ thought the blond. He then heard someone talk.

"He probably slipped on a puddle outside his door and knocked himself unconscious."

That came from Sakura.

A few students giggled.

"It hasn't even rained lately forehead," was Ino's response.

Sakura smirked, "That's the point Ino-pig."

The students who giggled before outright laughed this time and more joined in. That was until a quiet voice washed over the room.

"Ano, you shouldn't say things like that about N-Naruto-kun, Sakura-san," came the quiet voice of the shy Hyuuga heiress.

Sakura blinked and was about the say something before Ino beat her to it.

"Shut your trap little mouse. We can talk about the baka however we want," said Ino snobbishly.

Hinata lowered her head in response. This pissed off several people. Iruka and Naruto in particular. Iruka because he knew she was a sweet girl just trying to look out for a fellow classmate and didn't deserve to be talked to like that. Naruto because she had willingly defended him despite never having any interaction with her in the past as far as he could recall.

Both Naruto and Iruka were about to unknowingly intervene at the same time when something surprising happened. Hinata raised her head. This time with a warm smile in place…. or at least it would've been warm if not for the aura of death coming off the girl. This wasn't a friendly smile. No, this was the smile of a murderer. Seeing the change in Ino's eyes Hinata spoke.

"Now Yamanaka-san, I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that. _However,_ I _highly_ advise _YOU_ to shut _your_ trap before I'm forced to _hurt_ you," said Hinata with ice in her voice. The tone promised pain to all who didn't obey.

The entire class paused. Some in shock. Others in utter terror. This was not the Hinata they were used to. The year beforehand she had never really talked much. She was always quiet and off to herself. She never opened her mouth, never tried to make friends and didn't really communicate with anyone. The biggest reaction anyone had ever seen was that she would blush if Naruto was mentioned.

This caused the vast majority of the class to assume she was a shut in. A timid, shy little thing that was not to be bothered. It was safe to say that _no one_ had ever seen this side of her. This made the whole class realize that they truly didn't know her and that maybe they should reevaluate their opinions.

The person who was addressed, one Ino Yamanaka, was the most shook out of everyone in the room, and rightfully so. At least, in her mind anyways. Hinata, the class mouse, talked to _her_ that way? She couldn't comprehend it! What made it worse was the aura. The dark, nearly suffocating aura the girl let off made it hard to think, and the majority of it was focused on Ino.

The blond tried to have words form in her mouth only to fail miserably. In the end she just lowered her head with a whimper while muttering a barely audible "I'm sorry" in the process.

Seeing the blond girl submit, Hinata let up on the killing intent she was leaking. A neat little trick she picked. Regardless of how she learned it. She then put on a decidedly neutral face before focusing on her sensei.

"Can you please continue with the lesson Iruka-sensei?" Questioned the irate girl.

Jumping out of his own surprised state, the aforementioned teacher quickly cleared his throat before replaying, "Yes, we can Hinata. Also, Sakura and Ino, we WILL be talking about this later. There was no reason to talk about your classmates like that. Especially since one of them isn't even here."

So, they still didn't know he was here?

"I get why Ino-pig is in trouble, but I was just making a harmless joke sensei!" Cried Sakura. She really didn't want to get in trouble.

"What you did was just as bad Sakura! In fact-" Iruka was cut off.

"Nah, it's cool Iruka sensei," came a familiar voice.

The whole class looked up to the corner of the classroom where Naruto was in surprise. He spoke again but this time it was different.

"It's perfectly ok to say something offense or rude about someone as long as it's a joke. Isn't that right Sakura- _san_ ," said the blond in a blank, monotone voice.

His tone of voice took everyone by surprise. They were all used to the sunny all the time Naruto.

He was always cheery, and everyone knew it. This put people off even more than Hinata's outburst did. Hearing him speak in such a lifeless manner just seemed wrong.

Iruka was the first one to snap out of his trance, "But Naruto-"

"No, it's cool sensei. She's fine, I'm not mad," said the blond. _'Disappointed is a lot more like it.'_

She saw the fault in Ino for insulting Hinata but when he was involved it should just be passed of as perfectly acceptable?

Ok then.

He couldn't blame her though. Could he? She was only doing what everyone else did, and it's not like her parents taught her any better. People made such a habit out of insulting and disrespecting him he had gone numb to it. If he was being honest, if it wasn't for the fact he was already pissed at Ino he probably wouldn't have even made a big deal out of it.

Meanwhile, it turned out his words had the same effect on Sakura as Hinata's did to Ino. Seeing as she had bowed her head before letting out a quick sorry.

Iruka looked towards Hinata intent on asking a question only to see she had reverted to her more shelled off personality and was looking off in the distance. He sighed and shook his head before speaking, "Alright then. You two are off the hook this. Be grateful."

Both girl's mood seemed to lift ever so slightly.

"Also, how long have you been there Naruto?" Iruka voiced his last question.

As if someone flipped a switch, the happy go lucky blond was back.

"When I got here the door was unlocked but no one was inside," replied the child.

Iruka blinked owlishly.

"Oh," was his reply.

He cleared his throat before continuing, "Alright class, let's get back on track!"

And that they did. Within the next 2 minutes Iruka was in full lecture mode and half the class was paying rapt attention while the rest where in blissful unconsciousness.

 **(Time Style: 5 hours later no Jutsu)**

Iruka had just finished his lecture on chakra theory and taijutsu style origins when it appeared that the more…. sleep inclined…portion of the class sensed that he was done, because the moment he finished, they started awaking.

Iruka scanned his eyes over the faces of each of his now fully alert students before making an announcement.

"I was going to save this for a little later but given this morning's events, I figured it might be a good way to blow off some steam. To finish out the day we are having a taijutsu practice session," said the teacher, shocking everyone.

Once his words sunk in the class broke into a mix of cheers and groans. The cheers came from the more hyper and or physically active kids and clan kids. On the flipside of things, most of the groans came from civilians who weren't well versed in fighting and the lazier clan's kids.

If one listened closely they could hear the faintest whisper of what sounded "Troublesome teachers" over the roaring in the classroom. Keep in mind that you also had to block out the cries of "NOOO! I just got my nails done!" as well.

While Iruka's announcement caused organized chaos for most of the class, one special blond got a notification.

 **[Side Quest Unlocked]**

 **Win your ones(*): Iruka has announced a surprise taijutsu session. Don't get cold cocked!**

 **Objectives**

 **Beat your opponent with 50% health remaining**

 **?**

 **Completion Rewards: 1k ryo, 1.2k xp, +200 rep with Iruka, +400 rep with all classmates**

 **Failure: 200 ryo, 500 xp, +50 rep w/ Iruka, -100 rep w/ most classmates**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

' _For some reason this doesn't surprise me as much as it should,'_ thought Naruto

With a quick mental flex, he accepted the quest and was on his way out the door following behind Iruka, who had gathered the students while he was sidetracked.

 **(Scene Change: Academy Training Ground)**

Much like the day before, Naruto and co. where at the training grounds again. However, this time they were a few dozen yards from the target practice area and were instead in front of a circular wooden platform that served as the sparring arena.

"Alright kids listen up! There are going to be two brackets. One for girls and one for boys respectively," began Iruka.

"The matches will be randomly selected one on one fights for fairness. This isn't a tournament so the one fight you get is the only one you have to worry about. To win you need a ring out or have me call the match. Remember this also isn't a graded assessment as I haven't formally begun your taijutsu training but still do your best. I'll be comparing what you do now to what you do later in the year," finished the teacher.

With his peace said Iruka then drew two slips of paper. He called out two names and Naruto saw two kids step up. They met in the middle and performed the seal of confrontation before backing up a few feet from each other.

With chop of his hand Iruka signaled the start of the match.

As the fight waged on Naruto had to it admit, it seemed good. Both boys had decent physique for their age and were competent fighters. It wasn't some supercool high-octane fight like a lot of shinobi have but it _was_ a slugfest and that made Naruto feel right at home.

The match ended with the slightly smaller kid landing a blow to the face of his opponent followed by a shoulder charge that pushed him out of the ring.

Iruka gave both boys a proud smile and congratulations before calling two more names. This time two girls took the stage. One was a long-haired brunette and the other was a black-haired girl rocking a bob cut.

Their bout was a little more interesting. Instead of going for a brute force style win, they skated around each other. Only landing grazing blows and light taps. An odd kick was even thrown around here or there. In all, it was a vastly different experience from the first match.

It was clear to all those present that they both had talent.

It honestly looked like it would be a tie until the black-haired girl grabbed the blond by the hair and pulled…. _hard_. Those watching couldn't stop themselves from cringing. They all knew that _had_ to be incredibly painful.

Needless to say, the black-haired girl won.

Two more people were called and stepped up. Once again, Naruto didn't know their names but that was probably due to him spending the majority of the year prior out of the classroom. That's why he really only knew those who stood out in some way or another.

The two boys who were called up stood a fair distance away from each other before a drop of Iruka's hand started the match. Shortly after the first punch was thrown it was obvious this match wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting as the other two.

The two youths fought well enough but that itself was the problem. They didn't know how to fight. They lacked the fines and ability the two girls prior displayed and they also didn't have the same intensity and instincts as the first two boys. That lead to them mainly shoving each other around and a lot of poorly thrown punches, most of which missed by miles.

To a street rat like Naruto it wasn't impressive. The match even ended disappointingly, with both of them whining after taking like three hits!

After that match Naruto felt himself start growing exponentially bored and dozed off. Time passed, and matches came and went. Some lost and some won. Eventually the blond awoke again, and just in time it seemed.

A familiar Aburame and Nara had entered the arena.

' _This should be good,'_ thought Naruto. Based on what he knew of each clan, the Aburame were very competent and strategic fighters that loved to play reserved. Their tactical genius was only truly matched or outshined by the Nara, whose naturally high IQ and aptitude for tactical planning was-... Dammit! He used to many big words and his head hurt! Well, they're just really, really smart.

"The next match will be between Shikamaru Nara and Shino Aburame! Are you both ready?" Questioned their sensei.

Shikamaru sighed before looking between Shino and his sensei. After some time, he voiced his question, "Man, what a drag. This doesn't count for a grade right sensei?"

Iruka looked at the Nara skeptically. He was no fool. He knew Shikamaru's game, but he would humor him for now.

"Yes Shikamaru. It isn't for a grade but at least put up somewhat of a fight!" Yelled Iruka.

"If you say so."

With that the two combatants took center stage and performed the seal of confrontation before backing away from each other. They eyed each other up before Shikamaru called out to his opponent.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but don't take it easy on me Shino." said the Nara.

The aforementioned student's eyes rose ever so slightly in shock. Aside from their outstanding smarts, the Nara were known for their unmatchable laziness. Shikamaru was THE prime example for that. He was debatably the smartest Nara, based on potential, born in a long time and could make the sloth sin itself jealous.

It went without saying that Shino was shocked, but he was also surprisingly honored that the Nara chose him as the person to go all out on. He would return that honor by making sure he gave him a fight to remember.

Shino bowed his head in acknowledgement before setting into his stance. His opponent following suit.

Iruka dropped his hand. The match began.

Shikamaru locked eyes with Shino for a split second and for the briefest moment regretted what he was going to do. Their eyes remained locked for a second longer before Shino launched towards him. He followed suit, but admittedly slower.

Shino started strong. Launching off a left-handed haymaker that was amped up by his momentum. Shikamaru felt his hair blow back some as he ducked under it. He popped back him just in time to block a roundhouse aimed for his midsection.

The blow pushed him back several feet, but he was no worse for wear. "Maybe shouldn't have told him to go all out," No sooner than the Nara finish his sentence was Shino upon him again. This time he unleashed a flurry of punches.

 _Left, right, left, right, left, left, right hook, left, right, right. Repeat._

Shino put his all into the combo taught to him by his father. What puzzled him and everyone else watching was how Shikamaru was retaliating.

He wasn't….

He was simply avoiding the blows by the skin of his teeth. A head tilt here and a sidestep or duck there. Followed by the occasional deflection.

Shino knew it was a good thing to have his opponent on the defensive, but this seemed weird somehow. The evades weren't clean. Far from it. They were messy as could be. He struggled to duck and dodge every blow sent his way and that was the problem.

His form was _too_ off to not get hit at least once. He was doing this on purpose.

Iruka was the first to catch on to it. Followed shortly thereafter by the clan kids and taijutsu savvy students. Naruto even caught onto it thanks to gamers mind acting up.

The question on everyone's mind though was "why?". Was he trying to fake his opponent out before going in for a surprise offensive or could it be something else.

It seemed even Shino had caught on to since he threw deliberately lazy and poorly executed punches towards the Nara to test his reactions. They proved the same.

Shikamaru noticed the change in Shino's behavior rather quickly. "Well I've been found out. Time to show what I got," said the Nara. With a sudden burst of movement, he pushed back Shino, repositioned his feet and lunged forward with a right hook locked n' loaded.

At least he would have had he not tripped over his own feet and tumbled backwards.…. clean off the arena.

"Well crap. Guess I lost. Your win Shino," said the Nara lazily. He pulled himself up, nodded and walked back into the crowd of students. He had accomplished his goal. Put up just enough effort to show he was skilled but not do anything to troublesome.

Everyone took a moment to blink. They couldn't believe their eyes. Had that really just happened? There was no way….

Naruto was trying to get his jaw off the floor after witnessing the abrupt conclusion to that short fight. I mean it had barely been going on for a minute! And he was really just going to end it by tripping?!

At that moment his gamers mind made him take note of something.

During the fight, when he pushed Shino away, Shikamaru shifted his feet and then looked down at them before attacking. He did that on purpose! Naruto knew the Nara was lazy but cheating someone out of a fight was low.

After taking a look around the blond noticed he wasn't the only one who figured it out.

Many were shaking their heads or groaning and Iruka had to actively stop his eye from twitching as he announced Shino the winner.

Naruto didn't need gamers mind to tell the boy wasn't pleased at his "victory". The angry buzzing emanating from him spoke for itself…

"Next Match. Haruno Sakura V.S. Ino Yamanaka!" Announced Iruka.

That shocked everyone out of their stupors. The two self-proclaimed leaders of the "Sasuke Fan Club" going head to head. This was going to be a train wreck. A funny train wreck but still a train wreck.

It didn't stay quiet for long as the murmuring and whispering about who would win quickly arose amongst the students. The two made their way to the arena. Jeering at each other the whole way with taunts of "Forehead", "Pig brain", "Pinky" and "Blond ditz" to name a few being thrown around.

They reached the arena and squared off against each other. The animosity between the two could be cut with a knife

Iruka looked between the two, strangely nervous, before chopping his hand downward and starting the match.

…..

Neither moved. Instead they simply stared at one another. Eyeing each other as if they stared long enough the other would spontaneously explode.

Then with a sudden unanimous cry of "SASUKE-KUN IS MINE!" lunged at each other with the ferocity of two pissed off cats.

*The ensuing fight was so brutal and downright wrong that the author would've felt dirty actually writing and vividly describing it so it has been skipped*

The fight….no war, had come to its bone chilling conclusion. The power struggle that had just ensued shocked and deeply disturbed all present. Even Iruka himself had _changed_ on a fundamental level. He would look into bringing a counselor to class one day soon. He might also schedule a private appointment or two for himself.

These two small girls….no creatures, had just gone to levels of wrong that even the vilest of rouge kunoichi would despise.

Hair had been pulled. Clothes had been ripped and shredded. Make-up smeared, and lips bloodied. Words were tossed out that no 9-year-old child should know of. Hell! Iruka didn't even no some existed! And the aggression….

No little girls, or children in general had a reason to be _that_ aggressive with each other. They tore into one another with every fiber of their beings. Even as each was on the verge of passing out they still attacked each other with the intent of causing pain and asserting dominance.

Iruka tried to split them up earlier into the brawl but he himself came out with several deep gashes and scratches on his arms and vest. And he was a chuunin for crying out loud!

At some point during the fight, Sasuke, the specimen the girls were fighting over, had disappeared. His absence went unnoticed by all. Except for one.

Shino.

The ever vigilant and stoic child had been protected from the sheer absurdity of the nightmare the others were forced to witness by his sheer rage at the outcome his match. It was this lack of a distraction that allowed the angry boy to notice that the Uchiha had slipped away to far corner of the field and was curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth facing away from the battle.

If he strained his hearing with chakra he swore he could hear crying and whimpers of "Make them go away nii-san. I'll even forgive you."

Under the jacket collar that covered most of his face, Shino smiled that day.

At some point during the war for supremacy, Kiba made the mistake of calling it the catfight to end all catfights. No one knew if it was said to ease the tension that had built or if he was just dumb. The end result was him being maimed by most of the girls in the class. Even if all of them and everyone else secretly agreed with what he said.

Eventually after the war machines wore themselves down Iruka was able to cool their jets. Quite literally seeing as he dumped ice water on the two to get them to stop.

The girls themselves each looked like they had fought 50 starving leopards each and lived. They were covered in scratches and their clothes were nonexistent save the essentials. Plus, prior to the water being dumped on them they were caked in so much blood puberty would've been jealous.

Naruto saw their condition and was torn between blushing at their state of dress and shaking his head. Some small part of Naruto had wanted to root for Sakura, but he had remembered her earlier comment and chose to stay neutral.

His eyes briefly flicked towards Hinata and he swore he saw a sick sense of satisfaction behind her "horrified" face...

Scary.

Iruka quickly whisked the girls away towards a female teacher he had called on earlier to take them to the infirmary and get them some more clothes.

With the two terrors out of commission, everyone let out a breath they hadn't known they were holding. Those two had gone waaaay overboard and they all knew it.

That day a bond had been broken. However, sometimes, the strongest bonds are the ones that have been broken and re-forged.

Iruka gave everyone a few minutes to recover from that traumatic event, himself included, before calling the next match.

Ironically enough, the next up was Sasuke and some kid named Mira. Mira seemed nervous that he was fighting Sasuke. He must not have been confident in his abilities.

The Uchiha however, strolled up with his usual arrogance and "I don't give a fuck" attitude. However, inwardly he was grateful no one noticed his little "leave of absence".

For an unknown reason some might say, Shino's small smile grew three sizes that day.

Iruka called the match and it went as Naruto expected.

Mira got creamed. No questions asked. It was obvious he had no training in taijutsu or fighting experience in general and paired against Sasuke…. he had no chance from the start.

Up next was Kiba and Choji.

They both seemed excited to fight but of course KIba just _had_ to take a jab at Naruto.

"Lucky you weren't paired against me brain dead," said the boy mockingly.

Naruto bit back, "You're right. I'd probably catch fleas."

With that the second double clan heir fight began.

Unlike its predecessor, this one was actually very good.

Both Choji and Kiba were very good fighters and brought different skills to the table.

Kiba was fast and strong but, he was also reckless.

Choji was the polar opposite. He was patient and delivered powerful blows but, the size of his body lowered his speed significantly.

The fight had a certain pattern to it. Kiba would rush in head long and rain in blow after blow on his rotund opponent but get overzealous. That in turn would lead to Choji landing one or two solid blows that repaid Kiba nearly in full.

The gradual shifting around the arena and extra blow or two aside, this cycle would continue with relative sameness the duration of the fight.

Eventually it came to a close though. Choji may have been able to shrug off a lot of the blows and hit way harder than Kiba but in the end of it; Kiba hit Choji a _lot_ more and his pain tolerance wasn't high enough to tough it out.

Make no mistake though. This wasn't a clean victory for the Inuzuka either. Seeing as he was on his last legs in the energy department. Not to mention that he was bleeding and bruised in quite a few areas as well.

Naruto was pretty impressed. It was safe to say they had the best spar so far. Sakura and Ino's "disagreement" didn't exactly count as a "spar". He was really hoping his matched up to the two clan heirs.

The blond focused back in on the arena and saw that Hinata was up against a girl named Ami. She looked like your average civilian student, but she had a bit more muscle on her than most of the other girls. Implying that she liked to pick fights.

His assumption proved true when he saw he she engaged the Hyuuga heiress. The girl was bullish. She threw nasty looking punches that he knew would hurt if they connected. She didn't fight with much grace, elegance, or nimbleness. She much preferred to simply overpower her opponent.

It wasn't Ami that Naruto found himself paying attention to however. Instead he was much more focused on Hinata and the way she fought. Much like Shikamaru had in the earlier fight, Hinata was avoiding any and all hits that came her way. However, that was where the similarities end.

Unlike the Nara, who had made sloppily and needless moves, Hinata danced around her opponent with grace and elegance. Every hit Ami sent her way was either gently skirted around or pushed off. She also didn't pull her punches. Any opening she saw or created as exploited just as fast.

She swayed back and forth. Constantly in and out of Ami's guard. Sending quick and powerful palm strikes every few moments. The girl was nearly helpless to stop it. It was like swimming against a calm river with a deadly undercurrent.

She was calm, collected and had confidence in spades. Every move she made held nothing but confidence and determination in it. She had complete control over this spar and she knew it.

It made him wonder why she was so secluded and "shy".

At some point Naruto found himself completely entranced by her nearly melodic movements. Then, as quickly as he had entered the trance he was broken from it by Iruka declaring Hinata the winner.

He realized that he had probably been staring so he averted his eyes and hoped no one noticed. He felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

He wasn't alone. The object of his curiosity had caught him looking and was blushing herself.

Not that he would never know though. Seeing as he was called up next alongside another kid named Shun.

The moment Naruto reached the arena he knew this guy didn't like him.

"I get to beat you up again? Oh, this is gonna be great. Just a shame Kaza and Yuuto won't be here to join in this time," boasted Shun.

' _The hell is he on about? Do I even know this guy?'_ questioned the blond. He decided to take a closer look at Shun in hopes of jogging his memory.

He had black hair with it slicked down in a bowl cut and was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt with dark gray athletic pants that cut off at the ankles. He stood about a head taller than Naruto and had a lean build. Naruto could also see the faintest hints of muscle tone on his arm and legs.

He also had dirty brown eyes that shone with arrogance as he stared at the blond boy. The look was completed with his arm being crossed condescendingly and the iconic "jackass smirk" gracing his lips.

The more he looked him over was certain he was that he knew the guy from somewhere, but he wasn't sure.

"Are you two ready?"

That came from Iruka. Looks like he was about to start the match.

Naruto nodded his head and took his stance. Feet shoulder width apart with his right foot placed forward while turning his body on angle towards his opponent. Topping it off with his dominant right hand stretched forward ever so slightly while holding his left closer to his face to guard

This was how the blond fought. Before he was given an apartment by the Hokage he was a street rat. As such, he got into a lot of fights with kids all the time. He never had anyone teach him how to fight so he relied on what came naturally. This was the most basic and primitive style of unarmed combat. It was hard wired into everyone's brain from the moment they were born whether they knew it or not.

That's why it suited Naruto perfectly.

It was wild, adaptable, and hard hitting. Just like the Uzumaki.

Naruto cocked an eye as Shun fell into a similar stance. Only, his was slightly more refined.

" _This is gonna be fun,"_ thought Naruto. _"Let's be smart about it though._ _ **Observe.**_ _"_

 **Name:** Shun

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:** _None_

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv5 next lv=?/?

 **HP:** 1,050

 **CP:** 360

 **VIT:** 15(3)

 **STR:** 12(2)

 **DEX:** 5

 **INT:** 3

 **WIS:** 3

 **LUK:** 3

 **Effects: Hardy** (+3 VIT & +2 STR) **Bully** (-50% to all reputation gains)

' _Oh, come on! His strength is way higher than mine!'_ Naruto wanted to cry. That meant this was going to be a test of endurance. That also meant it was going to be painful for him.

Oh well. Let's get this show on the road!

"Good to go sensei!"

Shun had similar thoughts.

"Ready to cry to mama loser?"

Given…. His lack of one…that stung…

' _Yeah...he's gonna bleed.'_

Iruka's hand fell signaling the start of the match and the two boys took off.

Naruto was the faster of the two, so he covered twice as much distance as Shun and met him on his side of the ring. He used the built-up momentum to launch a devastating right cross, but he didn't count on Shun ducking it

That got him socked clean in his gut.

Naruto stumbled back from the force of the blow but managed to shake it off just in time to raise his arm and block a punch to his head from the left. In return he was gifted with a right cross that left him dazed.

Naruto was then hit with a left jab that closely followed by another right.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Shun then launched a kick at the confused blond's stomach that sent him tumbling to the ground.

The blond rolled to stop in the center of the ring and quickly checked his health.

' _2,133/2370? Damn! That much gone already? Not letting him do that again._ ' The blond rose to a knee and looked at his opponent.

"That all you got? You're worse than last time! At least you put up a decent struggle then!" There he goes again. What the hell was he talking about and why couldn't he remember it?

'I gotta come up with something to deal with this dude and I might know just what that something is.' Naruto put his other thoughts on pause as he formed a loose plan of attack.

He coughed out a tiny bit of blood as he rose to his feet. He wiped it away as a smirk formed on his chin. "That really all you got? I've met kittens that hit harder than you!"

"Ha! I must have hit you a little harder than I thought. I mean you're the one coughing up blood at the start!" Shun could hardly contain his laughter.

"No, I'm serious. You hit like a bitch dude. Did Kiba teach you how to fight?"

"Hey!" Looks like Kiba was mad. 

"Bastard!" Oh, seems Shun was too.

Naruto braced himself as Shun lunged at him in anger.

He raised his arms to block the right thrown his way before leaning his head to the left a bit. The blond felt air rush past his face and heard the _woosh_ of Shun's fist just missing his face.

Naruto caught his next punch in his left hand and then repeated the process with the next punch and his right. He then quickly used his newly found leverage to pull himself towards his opponent and butt heads.

The maneuver dropped Naruto's health by another two percent and dazed them both. However, Naruto was able to recover much faster. Just what he was hoping for.

The blond quickly used the opening to its fullest by introducing Shun's eye to his fist. The blow was enough to snap Shun out of his daze, but he couldn't defend himself from the onslaught the Uzumaki unleashed.

He followed his eye gouging right with a left hook to Shun's temple. Followed by a strong right jab to the gut. Naruto then grabbed Shun by the shoulder with his left while repeatedly unloading his right fist into the bully's gut.

He slammed it home once more before letting it sink into his stomach. Shun keeled over his fist and spit out blood. He looked at the blond with rage and pain evident in his eyes.

"That feel good?" Naruto smirked as the words came out his mouth.

Shun pushed off Naruto with a angry grunt. "You are gonna pay for that!"

He regained his bearings before charging the blond child. A favor that Naruto was all too happy to return.

They met in the middle of the ring. Both slamming into the others face with their right fist. Each of the boys holding the other at bay. They remained frozen like that for a for a few fleeting seconds before pulling their arms back.

Then the two entered into a classic slugfest. Meeting each of their opponents blows for one of their own. If Naruto threw a right, then Shun with match it with a left and if Shun threw a right it would be matched with a left.

Shun's blows hurt a lot but Naruto was no lightweight. Plus, he was the faster of the two. In the end these two factors are what allowed him to gain the upper hand in their exchange.

This was evident by the fact that Naruto started pushing Shun back. For everyone blow Shun landed, Naruto met him with a one-two combo that hurt just as much. Every time it connected Shun would take a step back and the Uzumaki would advance.

The sound of flesh meeting flesh hung in the air as the two boys warred on.

The crowd of children watching the fight were trying desperately not jump out of their metaphorical seats. This was by far the best fight today…...minus that "incident" from earlier.

Most of the kids were amazed at how long they had maintained such a vicious exchange of blows. However, Iruka along with the clan kids and some of the more fight savvy civilians were judging who the better combatant was.

They did this by comparing how the two fought. Shun hit hard, could take a punch and had decent fight sense. Naruto wasn't as strong but still hit hard for his size, was fast, and seemingly knew perfectly well how to rely on his body.

Iruka was the first to realize who had more potential out of the two. In that regards Naruto took the cake. The deciding factor in it was that Naruto was doing this well purely off instinct. With Shun it seemed as if someone had drilled in his head how to behave in a fight. So Iruka's verdict was that if Naruto could match someone "trained" like Shun with instinct alone then with training he would dominate him.

The others were reaching their own conclusions about the fight as well.

Kiba thought they both weren't bad but was surprised by the blond dopes skill. He was still alpha though. He knew it.

Shino was wishing he had got the Uzumaki as an opponent. He was better than the good for nothing Nara and Shun seemed unsavory to the academy student. He also seemed like he would put in genuine effort into the fight.

The aforementioned Nara was sleeping.

Choji was loving the fight. He thought Shun was mean though. And why was he hungry?

Sasuke…. he couldn't care less. He was better. Period.

Hinata was the most excited out of them all. It took her awhile, but she remembered the jackass Naruto-kun was fighting. How could she have forgot? He's the reason she calls Naruto "Naruto-kun" now. She was glad to see her crush pummeling him.

"GO NARUTO!" Maybe it was the excitement from watching this fight, the leftover over adrenaline for her earlier match or what happened in the classroom earlier, but Hinata wanted to express her excitement.

Well, whatever may have caused it, the blond certainly wasn't expecting it.

' _Huh? Is that Hinata? Is she cheering for me?'_ Naruto had just pushed Shun a few feet away with a strong uppercut when he heard her voice. Needless to say, he was shocked to his core. He hadn't expected anyone to root for him at all.

' _Why would she be chee-_ urk!" His thoughts were cut off as Shun capitalized on his distracted state and sucker punched him dead in the gut.

He didn't stop there though.

In a manner similar to Naruto's headbutt from earlier, Shun grabbed the blond by his shoulders but he didn't headbutt him.

No.

Instead, he kneed him dead in the crotch.

"OOOWWWW! You-grk! You bi-Dammit! You bitch!" The pain was unbearable. His body felt like it was on fire.

That had been a _low,_ low blow and everyone knew it. Even the Uchiha winced.

Iruka was tempted to jump in but he knew that he was training the kids to be ninja and they fight dirty.

However, it seemed that the cruel tactic gained Shun the support of some kids who had less than positive views of Naruto.

Cries of "Go Shun!", "Kick his ass Shun!" or "Show the brat whose boss!" rang out from the crowd of kids.

Shun feed off it.

He leaned down to the blond and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You see that? They're cheering for me," he snarled. He punched him in the gut before pulling him up and putting him in a choke hold.

"Gaah! Le-let me go!" Naruto struggled against his grip, but he was still trying and failing to regain his strength. He struggled more, but Shun tightened his grip, making the small amount of strength the blond had regained leave him even faster.

In the end it was an exercise in futility. His supply of oxygen was being cut off and after a minute or so of struggling his vision was growing spotty.

' _Dammit! I'm really...gonna lose...like...this?'_ The blond's hands had fell to his side seconds ago due to lack of energy. He was in pain, angry, upset and frustrated all at one time.

He was about fail his first quest for fucks sake! The fact that he failed by losing a fight to a prick was just insult to injury. He wanted to struggle but he didn't have the fight left in him.

His strength was fading but the biggest killer was that he had lost his will to fight. Shun had him facing the crowd while he choked him out. That allowed the boy to get a good look at his classmates and see their reactions.

Shun's small group of supporters had grown to roughly half of the class. That meant 25 people, most of which Naruto had never truly interacted with, were happy he was getting his butt kicked by a jerk they didn't even like. The rest were deafly silent. Most likely waiting for him to lose and then break out in cheers.

What they hell had he done to any of them? The answer is what made him stop struggling.

Nothing.

He hadn't done a damn thing. But their parents probably told a different tale. They most likely told them he was a good for nothing trouble maker. A thief, a liar, hooligan, mongrel, monster or anything else negative they could think off.

He'd seen them do it in the past. He usually didn't think about such things, but the memories were resurfacing now, and it was costing him.

Iruka once again found himself in a catch 22. He saw the look on the blond's face and knew what was causing it, some of it anyways, but he couldn't just tell his students to shut up. They technically weren't doing anything wrong. Cheering for someone wasn't against the rules.

Shun's group was cheering even harder at the sight of the Uzumaki giving in. However, the other half of the class, the quiet ones, were singing a different tune. Naruto has assumed wrong about them, not that they would ever know. They weren't silent in the name of some sick manner of torment to inflict on the blond's psyche. In truth, they were quiet because like him or not, they couldn't stand to see him to lose a fight he was winning against a bully to such a cheap trick.

Hinata was livid. She was mad at Shun for his rotten trick and her classmates for rooting for the ass. "Naruto! Don't you dare listen to them or lose to that jackass! I know you can win!"

Her words registered in Shun's ear long before they did Naruto's and he snorted before sneering. "Aww! Look at that. The spoiled little princess is cheering for you. Surprised she hasn't ran away and hid yet. She can swap places with you if she wants though. I'm not against hitting girls," he finished with a chuckle.

Kiba heard Hinata's cry as well as what Shun said due to his closeness to the ring combined with his advanced hearing and threw in his own two cents, "Oi! Wake up idiot! You're only allowed to lose to me Naruto!"

He in turn caused Choji to speak up and cheer for Naruto, followed by Shino, then the recently awoken Nara and then the rest of his previously quiet classmates.

Meanwhile, Naruto's brain was just catching up on the outside conversation due to restricted blood flow.

' _Is….that..Hinata...and Kiba?…..and Shino, Choji too? They're cheering for me? They think I can win? They believe in me!'_ That realization gave him a ray of hope. All his classmates didn't hate him. The memories started to fade, and he started to remember who he _was_ instead of who _they_ wanted him to be.

He was Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage, prankster, gamer, and most stubborn person in Konoha.

"Let…..me…..go," he breathed out in a breathless whisper.

"What was that? I can't hear you," that was Shun.

Naruto sucked in what tiny amount of air he could before trying again.

"I said-!" His chakra flared and he rammed his elbow into Shun's side. This made him loosen his grip slightly, letting more air seep into the blond's lungs.

Air! He could breathe again! That discovery drove Naruto to repeat his action.

"Let! Me! GO!" Each word represented a blow to Shun's side as well as an increase in strength. On the final blow Shun stumbled back and released him. Naruto quickly turned and punched him in the face.

This caused him to stumble back in pain. Further increasing their separation.

The gamer quickly checked his health. Noting that it had dropped severely, reaching only 55%, and Shun hadn't fared much better. His health only at 56%.

This had to end now. He was hurt and recovering from oxygen deprivation. Plus, his health was nearly in the failure zone. He couldn't keep this up.

"This ends now Asshole!"

He charged Shun and tackled him to the ground. Throwing punch after punch at his face. The blood pounding in his ear blocked out the noise of the crowd behind him. Cheers and boos alike. At this point he was solely focused on knocking out this bastard. Eventually the roles flipped and Shun was on top. Naruto took a few hits but ended it by ramming his knee into the boy's gut. He then shoved him upwards with his arms before pulling in his legs and kicking him off and away.

Naruto then sprung up and launched forward for the final time. He cocked back his right fist mid dash and unloaded a devastating punch directly on Shun's face.

The blow hit like truck and sent him flying clean out of the arena.

"Winner! Naruto Uzumaki!"

Those rooting for Naruto all cheered and were even joined by a few of Shun's supporters who had simply been enjoying the fight. Meanwhile others grumbled and moaned in disappointment.

Hinata ran up to Naruto and hugged him. Screaming "You did It!"...only to realize what she did and run away blushing into the crowd. Not to be seen again that day.

Said blond only blinked owlishly before falling on his butt and sighing. Regardless of how strange that was, she was right. He won, and he felt damn proud.

He caught a glimpse of Shun picking himself of the ground and saw his health. It read 420/1,050. He only had 40% left. Naruto then checked his own to compare. He saw 1,232/2,370 which meant he passed with barely 52%. He won by the skin of his teeth.

Iruka chose this moment to approach Naruto. "Hey you okay Naruto?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm alright," replied the tired blond.

"Are you positive? Is "down there" okay?" Iruka was concerned and persistent. For good reason of course.

"Yes sensei! I'm okay and "down there" is fine!" Naruto laughed as he answered. He honestly was kind of surprised though. He had thought his "family jewels" would suffer much longer than they did, but as it turned out, the pain was almost entirely gone.

Little did he know, a certain fuzzball took pity on him and express healed his "wound".

Iruka sighed before continuing. "If you say so. Anyway, I'm proud of you Naruto. You fought hard today."

Naruto beamed as Iruka turned and started walking away. He called out to him as he left. "Don't forgot about our training session this weekend!"

"No need to worry. I won't!"

 **Quest complete:**

 **Win your ones(*)**

 **Objectives complete**

 **Beat your opponent with 50% health remaining**

 **Hidden Obj: Impress Iruka and classmates**

 **Rewards: 1k ryo, 1.2k xp, +200 rep with Iruka, +400 rep with all classmates**

 **Bonus rewards: 1k ryo, 1.2k xp, +200 rep w/ Iruka, +400 rep with all classmates**

"Fifth quest down. Nice!" Exclaimed the blond happily.

After he looked over his rewards Iruka called the class over to release them for the day.

The first thing Naruto did was go home and sleep.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Name:** Uzumaki Naruto

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:**

 **Ryo:** 6500

 **Stat points available: 7**

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv5 next lv=2900/3750

 **HP:** 2370/2370

 **CP:** 2100/2100

 **VIT:** 27 (10)

 **STR:** 8

 **DEX:** 6

 **INT:** 10

 **WIS:** 9 (5)

 **LUK:**?

 **Effects: ?** (+10 VIT, +5 WIS & 100% exp gain to [?] skill) **?** (+120 HP & +100 CP Per lv) **Pariah** (-25% to Konoha reputation gains) **Kami's Blessing** (9999999% increase to luck skill)

 **Bio:**

 **Naruto Uzumaki, a child whose origins are shrouded in mystery and false truths. He is the pariah of Konoha and as such he has been hated and treated unfairly by the Village all his life for reasons unknown. Due to this he developed a love of pranking and video games to alleviate his loneliness. Despite it all he still has hope in the people of Konoha and is driven by a unbreaking will and pure heart. Naruto strives to be a ninja of his village but has been handicapped every step of the way thus far. Rather he will crack under pressure and fall into darkness or rise above his oppression and forge a legend all his own remains to be seen.**

 **A/N:**

 _ **So, you guys enjoy? I hope so. How were the fight scenes? Good, bad? Descriptive or vague? Too long or too short? I feel like the fights were kind of long and exaggerated in some cases considering it was only academy students, but it was the first fight scenes I wrote so I wanted it to be good. It also sucked be limited to just basic fist fighting.**_

 _ **Fun fact. This was originally meant to be the first part of chapter 3. I had only planned this being 2-3k words and then a bunch of other stuff happening but then I got to writing and bam! 8k words.**_

 _ **Could you guys also give me some feedback on how the characters feel to you right now. (As best you can with what limited stuff you have to work with)**_

 _ **In general just critic me on my writing so far. Tell me what you like, and what you don't.**_

 _ **Also, as far as my UPDATE SCHEDULE goes: I'm going to try for at least once a month until I get us through this first Arc (about 4-7 more chapters). From there I'm going to take a step back and really try to flush out the story in full. That includes plot lines, both main and side, character bios and sheets, game functionality, jutsu and skills, etc. I won't pause updating for any longer than 3 months unless the unavoidable happens during my "brainstorm period" and I'll let you know if something does. After that I'll be back to hopefully monthly and maybe even bi-weekly uploads.**_

 _ **Originally, I wasn't even going to post this until i had the first Arc done and the rest of the story fully planned to the exact number of kunai thrown. Buuuut, I posted chapter one just to see how it would format on FFN and b4 I could remove it people started reviewing and commenting and I said fuck it! So, we are doing it live! And tbh, I kind of like that. It means your feedback can influence how the story goes a lot more.**_

 _ **If I could scan the contents of my brain and place them in a google doc then the story would already be 70% done by now. I would just need to add the finer details. However, that's impossible and I find the act of typing itself to be boring as hell. Its also why I don't like rereading my work on here. I know for a fact that it's going to be one of my biggest challenges writing this. But I started this some I'm going to finish no matter what. It may take 6 months or 6 years but im not stopping until I've written every arc I have planned out done the epilogue scene.**_

 _ **On a side note does anyone happen to know how to give non-cannon jutsu japanese names Like how Rasengan is Spiraling Sphere and Chidori is One Thousand Birds because some jutsu just sound cooler in one language or the other and while English come naturally, badass Romanized japanese doesn't.**_

 _ **Lastly, expect some edits to come to the three chapters posted in about a week or so. Just tidying up grammar and typos and maybe responding to some new comments.**_

 _ **Inferno'sLegacy out!**_

 _ **Edited 8/31/19**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Naruto: Game On**_

 _ **Chapter 4:**_ _ **Defiance**_

 _ **I feel like I owe you all an apology. I said I would have another chapter ready and have updated the old ones by next month. That was three months ago.**_

 _ **Long story short, not long after I posted the last chapter life kind of hit a shitty point for me. I won't bother going into to detail but I really didn't want to right much for like a month. The little time I did spend writing was mostly on a side project to help me relax.**_

 _ **After a bit I started back working on this little by little for the past two months but never just sat down and wrote. I've written more today at once on this today than I have for most of the past three months. It's been written over extended periods of time and is hot off the press so there's probably a lot of errors and it may seem all over the place.**_

 _ **However, I feel like I've waited long enough as is and I can't do a thorough check because I'm pressed for time but really want to get this out.**_

 _ **The good news is that school is out for me come Wednesday and I'll have the whole summer to work on this. So, in a week or so I WILL update all the existing chapters to make them flow smoother and shortly after that I'll be adding a little mini chapter as an apology. Then sometime after that I'll work on getting the next chapter out.**_

 _ **Whoa, that felt like a lot to say!**_

 _ **Anyway! Ready and Enjoy!**_

 _ **Inferno'sLegacy Out!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the mentioned works**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Currently our blond protagonist could be seen wandering around the village with a depressed aura. He had just finished his third day at the academy and they had repeated the accuracy drill that morning. It was safe to guess the blond hadn't done so hot.

"It just doesn't make sense! How could I do so poorly after I did so well before?" He simply couldn't fathom his performance difference. It really couldn't have just been his luck. Could it?

"Forty percent. Heh…...FORTY DAMN PERCENT!" His frustration mutated into rage.

His eye started twitching as he recalled what _truly_ made him lose it. "AAANNND of course I just had to go after Mr. Perfect Score Uchiha! Then, it just so happens that _coincidentally_ , Kiba goes after me and gets _twice_ my score!"

Let's also note that the Inuzuka made it a point to rub it in his face the entire day.

He let out a string of curses that shouldn't be coming out of any nine-year old's mouth as he continued walking down the side road he was on. Then, as quickly as it appeared, all the anger bled from his system and was replaced with a fresh wave of sadness.

"I barely passed this time. Is my aim really that bad?" He sighed before lowering his head and closing his eyes.

Just in time to walk headlong into someone…

"Hey! Watch where you're…...going?" He snapped his head up with the intent to mouth off at the moron who bumped into him, only to stop and resist the urge to blush.

As it turns out, that moron just so happened to be a cute girl.

She had chocolate brown eyes and was wearing a sleeveless pinkish-red Chinese style dress with red-brown colored pants and shinobi sandals. She also had her black hair in two symmetrical buns that reminded Naruto of a Panda.

"I should be saying the same to you," grumbled the girl as she rubbed her head in pain.

She looked up at Naruto with the intent to say something else, only for her eyes to widen before she started looking at the ground around her frantically. "Crap! My stuff!"

Naruto chose this moment to notice that she had been carrying several large, heavy bags. The contents of which were now strewn out across the ground. He also noted the agitated look forming in her eye.

In response, thousands of years of developed male instinct kicked in to help him avoid feminine fury.

"My bad! I'm so sorry!" He then bent down before speaking again. "Here, let me help."

The girl looked at him skeptically before nodding. She then got to a knee and started picking up the fallen items alongside the blond.

Naruto quickly threw a few into a nearby bag before he noticed something. "Hey, these look kinda like kunai and shuriken."

"Yep! That's because they are," replied the girl cheerily.

Naruto was now confused. "Okay, but why do you have so many and what are you doing with them? There's no way these can be thrown in this condition."

True to the blond's words, the weapons were all in poor condition. Ranging from chips in the metal to being completely broken or shattered.

The girl giggled before answering the blond boy, "That's because these aren't for throwing. My father's a blacksmith and he had me go collect leftover weapons from the training ground."

"Why would he need these broken ones then? I don't see a use." He was still perplexed.

"Jeez, you must not know a lot about blacksmiths. He's going to melt these down and use the metal to make new ones," responded the girl.

"Nah, I don't. It makes sense now though. Thanks for telling me," said Naruto.

The girl gave a small smile, "It's alright. You can't know everything."

By now they had picked up nearly all of the spilled salvage and the still unidentified girl was preparing to leave. She started picking up the bags but started having problems holding more than four of the large bags.

Naruto took notice of her plight, "Hey, those look pretty heavy. Let me help you."

"No….it's...alright! I got it—" she was cut off as one of the six bags fell from her arms.

Naruto shook his head before grabbing half of the bags from her.

"Now, _we_ got it," he said with a smirk.

Panda Girl blushed and bowed her head before muttering something along the lines of "thank you".

"Don't worry about it! Now where to?" The blond was happy to help.

"Oh, just follow me," said the girl. The two then took off.

They got about 15 feet from their starting point before the girl abruptly stopped and looked at her traveling companion.

"What is it?" Questioned Naruto.

"Umm…...I just realized that you're helping me but I never got your name," said the girl shyly.

"Oh! It's fine. I'm Naruto." 

"Ok. Nice to meet you Naruto. I'm Tenten!"

Now that they had finally properly introduced themselves, the pair resumed heading to her father's shop.

"Thanks again for helping me Naruto. I'm curious though. What had you so distracted in the first place? I think you mentioned something about horrible aim," questioned Tenten.

"Do you really want know?" Naruto was surprised she cared.

She nodded in confirmation.

"Yep! You can tell me all about it on the way to my dad's shop," replied the girl.

Naruto was too happy to oblige. He was happy that someone near his age was interested in his life. So, for the rest of the trip Naruto recounted his poor day to his new acquaintance. Omitting the game part for obvious reasons

As for Tenten, she listened to his story intently and at some point she found herself giggling at the blond's plight.

The duo continued on happily all the way to their destination.

 **(Time Style: 20 Minute Timeskip no Jutsu)**

Sometime later the duo arrived at Tenten's store.

"Here we are! Higarashi's weapons!" Exclaimed the girl cheerfully.

"Weapons? So, your dad makes and sells them?" Questioned Naruto.

"Yeah, though he typically only makes higher end stuff. The rest he buys in bulk to sell," answered Tenten.

"Ah, I see. Anything else you need help with while I'm here?" He guessed it would be fair to ask if she needed anything else.

"No, I got it from here. Thanks Naruto!" Replied Tenten.

Naruto nodded his head and was about to make his leave only to be stopped by the girl.

"Oh, I almost forgot! If you want some help improving your aim, you should stop by sometime. I'm free most of next week. We'll call it repayment for your help and being so nice," said Tenten with a smile

Naruto eyes widened, "Wait! You're in the academy!"

"Yep! I'm in the year just above yours. I also happen to have pretty good aim if I do say so myself!" Exclaimed the girl with nothing but pride.

"Wow! You'd really be willing to help me?" Naruto was beaming.

"Of course, I would silly! Why wouldn't I?" Questioned Tenten as she cocked her head to the side.

Naruto's eye fell some as he answered, "Oh…. it's just that I'm not the most liked person around. Most of the village tends to act like I don't exist, most kids in my class don't give me the time of day, and I don't really have any friends…," he trailed off towards the end, looking down some.

Tenten was a little weirded out at first by his sudden shift in moods, but she soon started feeling sad for him and very confused. She couldn't understand why it was like that for the blond. He seemed really nice from the short amount of time she'd been around him.

She was about to voice her concerns but was stopped when the blond suddenly shot his head back up with a grin, "So I guess I was just a little surprised that you would be nice enough to do something like that! Anyways, I'd really appreciate you giving me a few pointers."

The blond sounded cheery and his happy grin could've fooled most people. Tenten was not most people. One look into his eyes told her he was faking it. Her shinobi training let her notice the desperation they held. She started to question him about his life but instead chose to let it be. If he wanted to talk, he would.

She waved her hand dismissively before responding, "It's alright, I get it. I really don't have a problem helping you though."

The blond relaxed internally.

"Ok, if you say so Tenten, but before I go, how exactly did you manage to carry all those bags as far as you did?" Naruto was genuinely curious.

Tenten gained a faraway look in her eye.

"Pure willpower," she murmured as she gazed out into the sky.

"Noted," replied the blond.

He cleared his throat before speaking, "It was nice meeting you Tenten but I gotta run!"

That seemed to snap her out of her trance, "Oh, ok. I'll see you later Naruto! It was a pleasure!"

Naruto gave a small smile, a genuine one, as he turned and started walking off. He turned his head back towards her and raised his hand in a goodbye gesture, which she returned, before turning his head forward and continuing on.

Tenten stared at the blond's retreating for with interest. He was a nice guy. A bit weird and hyper, but nice. He also reminded her of someone but for the life of her she just couldn't think of who.

She definitely hoped he took her up on her offer.

 **(Time Style: 10-minute Timeskip no Jutsu)**

We could now find our blond protagonist roaming a more crowded main street.

' _So…...did I just make a friend?'_ Thought the blond

' _I mean…. we talked for over half an hour and…. she even offered to train me! Although, she did call it repayment for helping her,'_ continued the blond.

Naruto grabbed his and shook it before yelling in frustration, "UUGH! Having no reference material sucks!"

Naruto resumed walking only to pause mid step when he noticed everyone nearby on the street was now staring at him.

"What are you looking? Can a kid not scream to the high heavens about his problems in peace?" Questioned the blonde.

They still stared.

"Oh, buzz off already!"

They did just that and Naruto shook his head.

He started walking once more and picked up his old train of thought, _'I hope I didn't weird her out with what I said. Come to think of it…...WHY did I say that? I don't even know her. I haven't even told Iruka-sensei about how bad my social status is and he's cool!'_

"So why her?" He said it quietly under his breath.

The more he thought about it the harder it was for him to come up with an answer. In truth he didn't know why he let that slip it out. It was strange. He just felt really relaxed around her for some reason.

His train of thought continued much the same until he somehow ended up in the main shopping district of Konoha. He had apparently walked all the way to the center of the village.

"Hmm, didn't mean to end up here. Might as well take a walk around," said Naruto. In truth he didn't have anything to do. He had just been wandering ever since he got out of school for the day.

He started exploring and looking at the various shops and stores. He quickly noticed something though. A lot of people had blue question marks over their heads.

His experience with games gave him an idea of what this could be but he had to check to be sure.

' _Open help menu,'_ thought Naruto. He wasn't sure if it would work but low and behold. His watch stirred to life and a light blue holographic screen appeared.

" **How may I help you?"**

' _That actually worked…...What do blue question marks mean?'_ Questioned the blond boy.

" **Blue question marks represent daily quests. These quests are abundant in the world and reset at a set time every day. However, they offer much less rewards in return."**

' _Close help menu,'_ the boy said. The screen then disappeared...

...Only to be replaced by another screen.

" **Would you like to enable tooltips?"**

 **Y/N**

' _Yes,'_ thought the blond. ' _Why the hell wasn't that a thing in the first place?'_

Naruto then walked up to a vendor who was looking particularly frustrated.

"Yo, what's bothering you so badly?"

The vendor was a lanky guy who looked to be in his mid to late twenties and had shaggy brown hair. He looked towards the blond and sneered. "What do _you_ want brat?"

Naruto felt his temper rise and was about to mouth off but gamers mind calmed him down just as fast. This game could be really annoying at times.

He sighed before speaking, "Look, chill dude. I didn't come to start to trouble. I just wanted to know what seems to have you so stressed out."

The vendor narrowed his eyes before scoffing, "As if you'd be concerned with my _petty_ problems."

"Well ya know, the thing is…...I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't interested!" Naruto was careful not to yell too loud but he was irritated. His eye twitch was proof of that.

"Fine…. Take a look at my stand. Notice the lack of produce? A cart filled with it was supposed to be here this morning but still hasn't arrived," said the man.

"The busiest part of the sales day is about to start and I have nothing to sell! There! Now that you know what's ruining my day what are you going to do about?" His frustration shined through as he spoke. He lowered his head once he was through.

 **[Daily Quest Unlocked]**

 **Daily Freshness: His food cart's late. Help the man out!**

 **Objectives**

 **Find and deliver the missing food cart**

 **Rewards: 200 ryo, 200xp, +200 rep with Burning Leaf Market, +100 rep with Konoha**

 **Failure: -300 rep with Konoha, -400 rep with Burning Leaf Market**

 **Accept?**

 **Y/N**

' _And there's the ryo,'_ thought the blond as he accepted the quest. Naruto then spoke again saying, "Well, look. I'll see if I can help find your cart. Do you know the route it was taking?"

"You would rea- Ahem! I meant to say that's fine but do so at your own risk. Just know that if you fail I promise you'll regret it. That cart should've been coming from that way," the man finished off by pointing in a random direction.

 **Gamer Rank has increased by 1! New rank is 2!**

Suddenly, Naruto's entire world shifted. His vision went black for a moment and then suddenly returned. However, now he could see several things in his field of vision. In the top right corner of his view he could see a red and a blue meter. The red one said HP and displayed his current health out of his total. The blue one did the same except for chakra instead.

There was also a small plus in the top left-hand corner but he had no idea what it meant or did. It also looked like he had a dumbed down version of his observe on. He could see people's names or ranks as well as titles and their level.

His watch also started to glow. He moved it in front of him to see what was going on only for a circular holo map to appear from it. It showed his current location and it also showed a highlighted area for him to go to as well as a line indicating how to get there.

Then a little blip appeared in his vision before seemingly moving far away. Conveniently enough to what looked like the highlighted location.

' _Okay, if I know anything about video games then I'm assuming I just unlocked a HUD of sorts and whatever the hell that glowing dot was is meant to be a waypoint,'_ guessed Naruto.

 **BING! You have gained +1 intelligence for figuring out something before the game explained it to you!**

' _Ahh, thank you Halo!'_ Now if only the watch could turn into Cortana…

Naruto nodded towards the trader before taking off towards the location. As he was running he saw a timer counting down from 40.

"Guess I'm just going to need to be fast... _Hyper-stride!'_ Thinking the last part, the blond shot off like a speeding bullet.

 **(Time Style: 20-minute Timeskip no Jutsu)**

Reaching the location was the easy part...sort of. It took him longer than he thought because he had to weave around people in the street and Anbu were using the roofs in the area.

The hard part was actually finding the damn thing! The area it brought him to was outside a large storehouse...and there were dozens of carts!

At this point Naruto had checked well over 20 carts to no avail. Some were filled with weapons, others had clothes. Some were empty and one had stuff that he didn't even want to know was. On that particular cart there was also a message that read "For one A. Mitarashi".

All Naruto knew is that whoever that A. Mitarashi person is has to be a strange one…I mean what the hell would someone want with whips, handcuffs and other strangely shaped objects?

"If I have to check one more of these damn things I'm going to lose it!" He pulled the cover off another cart only to see…...A family of racoons?

Okay, that's it. He'd had it. What the hell were racoons doi- Wait, why was one humping the other? You know what? Never mind! He was just going to check more carts.

He then spent the next few minutes pulling tarps off of carts while silently stewing in anger.

"Hehehe _*hick*_ hehehe."

"What was that?" Questioned Naruto as a sound rang out.

 _*Hick* *Hick*_

There it was again. It just wasn't accompanied by laughter.

"Hehehee _*Hick*_ heheeheee."

The noise continued this time and Naruto started following it to the source. What he found was rather surprising. There was a guy.

There was a middle aged bald dude on the ground leaning against a cart. He had a bottle of sake loosely held in one hand, his cheeks were rosey and he had a stupid look on his face.

' _Yeah, he's drunk. He hasn't even noticed me right in front of him,'_ thought Naruto. Just out of curiosity he pulled up the tarp and he nearly saw red. Right there in front of him was what he spent the last eight minutes looking for!

"Hey! Is this your cart?" Questioned the Uzumaki.

The man barely registered the sound and just giggled. Naruto's eye twitched.

 _Slap!_

"I SAID….IS THIS YOUR CART?!" He screamed in the dude's ear.

The man jumped, "HUH! Wha-ye-yeah. That's mine...I think."

Naruto looked at him irritated, "Is it supposed to be somewhere?"

"Yea-yeah. A food...sland. I-I shou-sloud get ist zere," he was slurring his words. The man tried getting up only to fail miserably.

Naruto shook his head before looking at the man and then the time left. He got behind thee cart and started pushing it. He vaguely heard a shout of what sounded like "Hey! That's my cart!".

He ignored it.

' _I have less than 15 minutes to get this back. I need to hurry!'_ He activated Hyper-Stride and said a prayer for those in his way.

 **(Time Style: Timeskip no Jutsu!)**

Naruto was breathing raggedly as he lied down on the ground. He pushed that cart at what felt like the speed of light for ages. His muscles ached severely and he was out of breath. He did complete the quest though. He had been a bull. He pushed through hordes of people, nearly hit an old lady and destroyed a guy's stand. He didn't feel bad about the lady because he knew her and she was a bitch to him. However, he had to resist the urge to stop and bust out laughing when the guy who owned the stand screamed "My cabbages!". He also gained a point in **STR** and **DEX** for breaking his body.

After a few minutes he stood up and walk around some more. He was going to head home and get some sleep but then he saw it...

Another blue question mark.

' _Fuck me.'_

 **(Time Style: Timeskip no Jutsu)**

It was now Saturday morning and we could find our favorite blond heading to the academy to meet Iruka for his training session. Two days ago, he discovered he had access to daily quests. He found a man's food cart, rescued a stranded cat and delivered milk. The all were chores and he'd only found the three but it was a daily source of exp.

...or so he had been told.

Apparently, when the game had said they refresh daily it meant per quest. So, for example: Today he could do the milk delivery quest. Once it was completed he would have to wait three days to do it again. However, tomorrow he could find the food cart again.

In short, he could only do one quest per day. The game was throttling his xp and it annoyed him greatly. He cursed up a storm when he figured it out. Also, he had done the accuracy drill twice more. He did slightly better than Wednesday but not by much.

' _Those lessons with TenTen can't come soon enough.'_

Soon the blond found himself standing just outside the large building dedicated to educating and training the future of Konoha. He proceeded inside and walked down the halls he had come to be rather familiar with for over a year.

Predictably, Iruka was in his classroom working intently on some papers. He could've been grading old assignments or making new ones for the upcoming week. Naruto didn't know or really care. Well whatever the case, Iruka's work had him so distracted he didn't even notice the blond enter the room.

"Yo, sensei! Don't tell me you forgot about our training today?" Naruto wasn't going to let that last long.

Iruka's head snapped up in alert and did a quick scan of the room before he landed on Naruto.

"Oh, it's you Naruto. Sorry, I was lost in my work," said Iruka while scratching his head.

"I guess you're ready for our sparring session?"

"Yep!"

"Alright, let's head outside then." Iruka stood up and walked out the classroom. Naruto not far behind.

The pair soon found themselves standing in the center of the same ring in which Naruto had his slugfest with Shun in. Fitting that this would be the same spot he improved himself at.

Iruka took steps back and got into a position to observe his student, "Alright, settle into your stance Naruto."

Hearing his teacher's instructions, the blond fell into the same one he beat Shun senseless with.

Apparently, that was the wrong one…

"Naruto…. when I said your stance, I meant the Academy Style…." Iruka shook his head in exasperation. Iruka heard a small, embarrassed "oops" before the aforementioned blond took up the correct stance.

"This one sensei?" Questioned Naruto as he looked towards Iruka.

"Well, yes. That looks vaguely like the right stance…. but something looks _off_ ," commented Iruka as he looked over his form.

The academy style was taught to shinobi hopefuls for a specific reason. It was a loose, adjustable style that has good offensive and defensive capabilities while still being flexible enough for the user to use it how they feel most comfortable.

Typically, the stance relies on the user's feet being spread apart with the dominant one place forward and the other placed back for balance. The user's arms are also meant to be spread out pretty wide with one extending forward for quick attacking while the other remains close to the chest for guarding.

As Iruka said, Naruto's form looked close to that but his feet were placed weirdly and his arms were _too_ extended. If he tried to make too quick or sudden of a movement he was liable to trip over himself and any punch he threw would be super easy to telegraph and dodge. His guard would also be extremely slow. Long story short, Naruto would be a sitting duck using this crap.

"So, uhm, Naruto...who taught you this exactly?" Questioned the scar faced chuunin. Iruka kept an upbeat expression on his face but inwardly he was concerned about how Naruto's stance was so poor. He hoped it was simply the boys own error.

Naruto blinked, "Um...it was the same guy who taught everyone else. I think his name was Mr. Ishida. Don't you remember him? You were the one who told him to teach us sensei."

"So, I did," said Iruka vaguely. In his mind he added on, _'So it was Ishida huh?'_

Iruka remembered Ishida. He also didn't want to think one of his comrades would intentionally sabotage one of his students. Maybe Naruto just hadn't understood his instructions. Regardless there was only one way to find out.

"Did he happen to give you the pamphlet which explained the form in more detail?" If that indeed was the case then he would've at least done this much. That way the blond could try to correct himself.

"Wait! There was a pamphlet!?" Naruto clearly hadn't gotten wind of that little detail.

Iruka chuckled a little before reaching in one of his many pockets and pulling out a small booklet. He chucked it at the blond saying, "Here, take a few minutes reading this over then try that stance again."

He ended his sentence with a small encouraging smile for the blond, but inwardly he was seething. He would definitely bring this to the Hokage's attention.

Meanwhile, Naruto had been trying to figure out what his sensei had been trying to get at. Regardless all of his antics, he wasn't slow and as their conversation continued he realized what his sensei was trying not to imply. He'd been fucked over again.

This was why Naruto wasn't a big fan of the Academy. Most of the staff made it hell for him. Iruka was one of the few exceptions. That aside, he was now faced with a new problem entirely.

' _Just what the fuck am I going to do about this book. I need to read it to help fix my taijutsu but I damn well can't have it get digitized in front of Iruka!'_ The blond was at loss for what to do. He could fake reading it but that wouldn't help and his only other option was to expose Iruka to his secret. Which he wasn't ready to do.

' _Damned if you do. Damned if you don't,'_ lamented Naruto.

 **PING!**

 **Tooltip: You can learn skills by reading over the skill book or scroll instead of absorbing it. Be warned that this can take much more time.**

' _Oh, well that's oddly convenient,'_ Naruto said before simply shrugging. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Naruto then sat down and cracked open the pamphlet. It was time for some old fashion learning.

 **(Timestyle: Timeskip no Jutsu)**

"Alright, now the sixth form," said Iruka as he observed the blond. Naruto had finished reading the booklet after about ten or so minutes. So Iruka decided to see if he learned anything by having him run through all the different katas for the style. He'd had him doing this for the past 20 minutes and so far, he'd done perfectly. Needless to say, Iruka was really impressed.

The knuckleheaded gamer ran through several more forms at Iruka's request before relaxing and stretching his muscles. It was most definitely more annoying to actually read as opposed to simply absorbing the knowledge. He was almost positive the game slows down his sense of time when doing it this new way, because it felt like he had been reading for ages.

On the bright side of things, he no longer had the flawed status next to his academy taijutsu. Not to mention the form just feels better and stronger. Fighting like a street rat is still what comes most naturally to him, but Naruto was sure that if he had used this while fighting Shun that fight would've been a whole lot easier on his part.

"So, uh sensei...what now?" Questioned the blond as he looked at his teacher expectantly.

"Well, you caught on a lot quicker than I thought you would. You seem to have the forms down so the only way to progress from here is to see how you hold up in a fight," responded the Chuunin.

"Wait! We're sparing?" Surprise was evident in the child's voice.

"Yep, you think you can handle it?"

"Oh, you're being cheeky Sensei? Bring it on!"

Iruka smiled before moving to the opposite end of the ring. He then settled on the most advanced form of the academy style, not that Naruto knew what it was. He would take it easy on the blond and limit himself to the combat level of the average fourth year student.

Across from him, the very excited blond settled into his "newly" learned stance. Even if he didn't have a megawatt smile on his face you would've still been able to tell how happy he was based on his body language alone.

Before there spar began Iruka decided he'd give his student the heads up, "Hey Naruto, be warned. I'm starting off on the offensive. Prepare yourself."

Naruto heard his words and gave a nod of acknowledgement. A few scant seconds later his teacher launched towards him.

' _Fast!'_ The blond barely managed to avoid his sensei's open blow by pivoting in his back leg.

Iruka spun around and threw a left at his face but the punch was barred purchase with a double arm block. However, that was just what Iruka wanted as he used Naruto's slower recovery time to land a punch to the side of his stomach.

The blond was sent reeling back from the blow. It didn't hurt much but it was disorienting. He then heard his sensei's voice ring out.

"Using both arms to cover your face makes a good defense, but you have to be sure your opponent is using their dominant hand and is putting a lot of weight behind the blow. Otherwise, they could easily capitalize on the time it takes for you to get your arms back in position."

Naruto righted himself then prepared for round two. His sensei lunged at him once more but this time he ducked under the blow and swerved out of the way. He popped up on Iruka's right side which caused the teacher to pivot towards him with left hook. Naruto was ready for him this time though. Instead of going for a full block, he used his right arm to parry the blow and caught the ensuing right jab with his free hand.

He then attempted to use the captured fist to propel his knee into his teacher's gut. He didn't give Iruka enough credit though. Iruka bent forward preemptively to reduce the power of the blow and used the momentum to get out of the blonds grasp and put distance between them.

"Much better," said Iruka while smiling.

Naruto simply grinned in return.

The two soon found themselves locked in exchange after exchange and Naruto found himself falling into a rhythm and working on autopilot.

 _Left hook, doge, success. Right cross, duck, success. Swerve to his left, success. Kick out leg, missed. Heavy right! Block! Success!_

' _He's catching to this a lot better than I thought. Let's see how well his offense is,'_ thought Iruka. The academy teacher then intentionally overextended a missing right jab in order to leave himself wide open.

Naruto saw the opening and rushed to capitalize. He grabbed the other grabbed his teachers free hand before using his other arm to slam a fist into his gut.

Iruka had to admit that for an academy student, that had hurt. However, he had been hit with far worse in his lifetime. Although, for the sake of playing the part Iruka acted as if he had been slightly disoriented from the blow.

He stumbled back with his right arm clutching his stomach and his left flailing kind of pointlessly. Naruto rushed forward with a right haymaker charged up. Iruka saw and "scrambled" to dodge it.

The attack just barely missed and Iruka continued his act by simulating the effects of imbalance from a rushed dodge. His feigned imbalance lead to Naruto coming at him with a string of different attacks. All of which he managed to avoid before letting himself "accidently" roll through one of the blond's attacks. The maneuver threw off Naruto and gave Iruka the amount of time it would take for a fourth-year student to right themselves.

After they adjusted, there was a small lull in combat. The two opponents using the time to catch their breath. Although the break was more for Naruto's sake.

"I'm pretty impressed Naruto. You've kept up pretty well so far," started Iruka.

Naruto grinned, "Heh, I just think you're slipping Sensei. You sure all that time behind that desk hasn't affected your fighting skill?"

"Oh, you have jokes now? Lucky for me that wasn't even trying!" It was a joke made in good humor and Iruka took it as such. However, he couldn't miss the opportunity to frustrate his most irritating student.

Naruto just smiled, embracing the challenge.

And a challenge it was. This time when Naruto went after Iruka it was as if he was fighting a whole other person. Before, his movements were much slower and his dodges were pretty bad. His speed and nimbleness had still made it hard for the blond to hit him but Naruto was sure it was at least possible then. Now his blows were being skirted like he was moving in slow motion.

' _Why the fuck is he so fast now? I guess he really was playing with me,'_ Naruto thought irritably. Seeing his sensei school, him like this was ultimately expected but still frustrating to no end.

Admittedly, he was only using the most basic form of the Academy Style and Iruka knew it like the back of his hand. Not mention it only really focused on basic offense and defense. Plus, Iruka was a chuunin…. Yeah, the more Naruto thought about it the more he realized how hopeless this was.

Regardless, he was still putting forth his best effort. He was stringing together every set of punches and combos he could think off based off what he had just learned. However, it was a fruitless endeavor. Iruka simple weaved mere centimeters between each blow, causing the blond to hit nothing but air every time.

Iruka himself raised a mental eyebrow as a particularly strong gust of wind blew past his face, _'Damn, that one must've had a good bit of speed with it.'_

Iruka had ramped his speed up to low genin level yet Naruto was still trying to keep up with him. To say he was impressed was an understatement. Iruka backed up a few feet from the blond and then let a smile play on his lips as he spoke up.

"You've done well Naruto! Really well. However, it's time to end this," said Iruka before blurring forward. He appeared in front of the blond with his fist buried in his gut. The blow wasn't overly strong but it had enough power to bring a second-year student to their knees.

He saw Naruto's eyes go wide and his head slump forward. He then counted the seconds until the blond slid off his fist and caught himself on the ground.

 _Thump!_

"Da-...Dammit! I thought that would work," groaned out Naruto as he slumped down in pain.

As he collapsed to the ground he missed the look of utter shock on his teacher's face. In Iruka's hand, mere centimeters from his face, was one of the blond child's fists. Instead of immediately crumpling to the ground, Naruto ate the blow before throwing out a lightning fast reflexive jab to Iruka's jaw.

If he weren't a chuunin level shinobi and didn't have the reflexes to match, he would've been knocked out cold. His hand _stung_ from the power of that blow.

Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to shake off the pain. That blow had dealt 30% of his health in one go. Needless to say, it had _hurt_!

"So… _*pant*_ …. how'd I- _*pant*_ how'd I do?" The blond was lying on his back when he asked the question.

"Great! You honestly did far better than I expected and I don't even mean that in a bad way!" Iruka truly was outdone. He had caught on and performed better than some 4th year students. He continued by saying, "Sorry if I hit you a little hard. I knew you wouldn't stop trying unless I forced you to."

Naruto eyed him before laughing, "Ha-ha! Ya know? You're probably right!"

The two chuckled for a few moments before settling into a comfortable silence. The blond had righted himself and was sitting crossed legged. Iruka sat a few feet across from him.

Suddenly time slowed to a crawl for the blond and he was met with a notification.

 **Quest Complete:**

 **Of Combat and Family**

 **Objectives Complete**

 **Train with Iruka Saturday**

 **Rewards: 1000 Ryo, 800 xp, +400 rep with Iruka Umino**

 **You have reached level 6! +3 stat points! 11 points remaining.**

' _Alright! I leveled up again!'_ cheered the blond mentally. _'I should probably use some of these skill points. I have 11 of them now after all.'_

He then used his watch and pulled up his stat sheet:

 **Name:** Uzumaki Naruto

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:**

 **Ryo:** 7500

 **Stat points available: 11**

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv6 next lv=159/6000

 **HP:** 2490/2490

 **CP:** 2100/2100

 **VIT:** 27 (10)

 **STR:** 9

 **DEX:** 7

 **INT:** 10

 **WIS:** 9 (5)

 **LUK: ?**

Looking at his stats he decided to dump 4 points into strength, 4 into dexterity and the last 3 into vitality.

So, Naruto's new stat sheet looked like this:

 **Name:** Uzumaki Naruto

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:**

 **Ryo:** 7500

 **Stat points available: 0**

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv6 next lv=159/6000

 **HP:** 2700/2700

 **CP:** 2100/2100

 **VIT:** 30 (10)

 **STR:** 13

 **DEX:** 11

 **INT:** 10

 **WIS:** 9 (5)

 **LUK:**?

' _Yo, what the fuck! I feel stronger already,'_ thought the blond with excitement. He felt like he could've kicked Shun's ass 5 times over. Why exactly hadn't he done this sooner?

Oh wait, he was probably still adjusting to his life being a game.

Naruto made a note to use his stat points the moment he got them from this point forward before closing the sheet. Then the world then unfroze and everything was as it was before.

The silence that had settled in lasted a short while longer before Naruto came up with a new question.

"Hey Sensei?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Did you ever find out anything else about the Uzumaki Clan?"

Iruka's eyes sparked with remembrance before replying, "Yes. Nothing groundbreaking but I do have some more information about them."

"Like what?" Naruto looked up curiously at his sensei.

"Well for starters they were experts in fuinjutsu. Otherwise known as the art of sealing," started the chuunin.

"I already know that Sensei," interrupted Naruto.

"How? I haven't covered that in class. In fact, it's not even in the curriculum," questioned Iruka.

' _Me and my big mouth,'_ thought the blond.

"Umm...I read it in a book about sealing. I didn't get very far because the librarian didn't let me have it but I remember reading about them," lied Naruto.

"Oh, that makes sense. I guess that's why you asked me if the existed in the first place," responded Iruka, content with his answer.

 **Luck check! Success! +1 skill point!**

"Anyway, aside from their skill in sealing they were also known for their longevity, massive chakra pools, and their red hair," continued the teacher.

"So, wait. If Uzumaki have red hair why is my hair blond?" Questioned Naruto. The 9-year old's mind was alarmed by the difference.

"Well, that's probably because one of your parents had blond hair," responded Iruka. He didn't want to mention that there was still a chance Naruto wasn't a Uzumaki by blood.

"Oh."

"It's alright. I didn't expect you to know that Naruto. Where were we again?" Iruka tapped his foot and scratched his chin in thought.

"Oh right! The Uzumaki were cousins with the Senju clan and were regarded as one of the strongest clans in the Nations. Right alongside the Senju and Uchiha. In fact, some argued that they were even stronger given that they frequently stepped in to stop the other two's quarrels," said Iruka.

Iruka watched as Naruto's eyes slowly started widening to epic proportions. He could practically _feel_ the excitement rolling off the blond. Iruka was certain he would explode if he heard anything else….

He smiled saying, "In fact...their village, Uzushiogakure, was strong enough to be considered the 6th Great Shinobi Village."

3…...2….1

"OH, MY KAMI ARE YOU SERIOUS!? WE WERE A GREAT VILLAGE AND RELATED TO THE SENJU?" The blond yelled so loud Iruka was certain Iwa heard him.

Now it was time to cool his jets some.

"Well to be specific, no one knows the exact relation between the Senju and Uzumaki but they were both close. As for being a great village...it was unofficial but they were in all but name," clarified the teacher.

"They were also very close with Konoha. In fact, the 1st Hokage's wife was Mito Uzumaki. Unfortunately, it was because of their strength and relationship with us that they were targeted so heavily," finished off Iruka rather somberly.

Naruto got even more excited at the fact that one was married to a Hokage but quickly quieted down upon being reminded of their fate.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Naruto looked his sensei in the eyes and asked a question.

"So, _who_ exactly was responsible for Uzu's destruction sensei?"

Iruka remained quiet at first, debating if he should give an honest answer. One more look into the pleading blond's eyes gave him his answer.

"Well, the blame for that is hard to pin on any one nation since many smaller villages joined in on the attack, but the main three responsible were Kiri, Kumo and Iwagakure," he said.

"Wait, why would that many villages target one clan?" Questioned the small child.

"It wasn't just the Uzumaki Clan. There were a few dozen other small clans that called Uzushio home," clarified the teacher.

He cleared his throat and spoke again, "However your point still stands. While the Uzumaki was the ruling clan, they barely numbered over 300, a lot for one clan but not unheard of, and the village's total shinobi population was just over a thousand. So why did they get attacked so heavily?"

"The answer to that question is fear. Uzushio and the Uzumaki were small compared to any of the Big Five but what they lacked in numbers they made up it skill."

"The numbers can tend to very on depending on who you ask but an army of roughly 15,000 soldiers were sent to siege Uzu. It took well over a week for the village to fall and less than a third of the invading force made it back," Finished the teacher.

"Wow! Were they really able to do all that?" Naruto's eyes had widened once again and for good reason. What the Uzumaki did was no small feat.

Iruka smiled, "The numbers vary but yes. The Uzumaki alone were already complete monsters with their mastery over seal and abnormal amounts of chakra. Then you have to understand that those clans that pledged loyalty to the Uzumaki weren't anything to be laughed at."

A comfortable silence once again fell over the two. Naruto mostly used the time to soak in the information he had just received.

Soon a new question had formed.

"Hey sensei, why don't they teach this at The Academy?"

Iruka gained a thoughtful look, "I'm not entirely sure Naruto. They taught it to us when I was in school but by the time I started teaching they had stopped. Maybe Lord Hokage knows?"

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement and silence reigned once more.

"I have another question Iruka."

For all of ten seconds….

"Yes Naruto?"

….

….

….

"Well, what is it Naruto?" Iruka was getting slightly impatient.

….

"What does longevity mean?"

 **(Time Style: Timeskip no Jutsu!)**

Naruto could now be found heading towards one of the far corners of the village. His training session with Iruka had went nicely but the teacher had to wrap it up not long after their talk. He said he would be willing to do it again but wouldn't be able to for a couple of weeks. In turn the blond had gotten another quest of the same name. The rewards were much higher though and it said "part 2".

Naruto however, was still very energetic and wanted to practice his new moves out some more. It was for that reason he was heading to the part of the village were the shinobi training grounds were located.

He had stumbled upon them during a day of pranking gone wrong and ever since then he would occasionally come back to watch ninja train. It was because of that he knew that training grounds 1-12 were almost always active and the others were a 50/50 to be occupied.

It was for that reason he found himself heading to training ground 13.

It took the blond about 20 minutes before reaching what looked to be a lush grassland that faded into a forest with a rock outcrop behind it. At what could be called the entrance was a large billboard with #13 on it.

"The training posts should be a little deeper in. No point in just sitting around." As Naruto walked under the large sign he never noticed the words shift from "#13" to "PD #1"

The further the blond walked into the training ground the more confused he got. Training ground 13 was meant to be grassy but not like this. The grass was currently above his ankles and in some random patches it looked as if it would reach his knees.

It looked as if it hadn't been tended to in months, and he knew that couldn't be the case.

 _Rustle! Rustle!_

Naruto's eyes snapped to the tall grass a dozen feet to his left and he saw the grass being pushed around. Something was in them...and it was coming his way!

Naruto grabbed a Kunai from his pouch and held it at the ready….

Only to be greeted by a small cat jumping out of the bushes.

 **Feral Cat Lv 2**

 **Hp:** 200 **Cp:** 50

 **A stray cat that has been turned feral due to being in the wild for so long. Be warned, they are highly aggressive!**

"Oh, it's just a cat. For a moment I thought I was in real tro-" One day Naruto would look back and realize that putting those points into his **dexterity** was one of his smartest decisions ever because it was the only thing that saved him from getting his face mauled as a child.

 **Combat has started!**

The seemingly "harmless" cat had jumped at the blond's face with the ferocity of a mountain lion. His upgraded **dex** let him barely manage to roll under it while he swiped with the kunai out of reflex.

 **Fatal Critical! +75xp**

As Naruto stood up and turned to face the threat he was greeted with it's fresh, warm corpse. Apparently, when he swung his kunai he had caught it in the throat and with it being such a small, weak creature, that was all it took.

As he watched the blood pool around the cat's body, Naruto's eyes widened ever so slightly. He looked between the dead creature and his now bloody kunai. He had never killed anything before and there was more blood than he was used to seeing.

Strange emotions were starting to crash down on him. Guilt, regret, horror…. excitement?

He was starting to breathe heavy and was on the verge of hyperventilating.

 _Rustle! Rustle! Rustle! Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!_

Just like that instinct snapped him out of his trance like state and got him ready to fight for what could've been his life.

Six more of the feral cats had jumped out of the grass and were now circling him while hissing. One was even swatting the air in his direction.

Naruto slipped another kunai in his other hand and readied himself for combat. He was still scared and nervous, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt excited.

As one, two of the cats charged him and leaped. Naruto was ready this time and ducked under them while slashing. He caught one on its stomach and the other on the side of the face.

Not enough to kill either but they were both severely hurt.

He sprung up just in time to kick away a third that had tried jumping on his crouched form. However, he couldn't stop the fourth cat that had jumped onto his other leg before it was able to sink it's claws and fangs into the skin.

"GAH! Bastard!" Naruto cried out in pain before jamming a kunai into its skull out of reflex.

 **Fatal Critical! +75xp!**

He heard movement behind him and turned around while throwing a wild swing. The blow had some much behind it that it took the 5th cat's front left leg clean off. However, the wounded cat still landed on the blond's face. Managing to cover it in blood and scratch him once before being thrown off with a blade in its side.

 **+50xp**

 **+50xp**

Naruto then stumbled forward as he felt two weights jump on his back. The sixth cat and the one he kicked away had gotten behind him.

"Get off me! Get off!" Naruto was flailing and trying to get them off his back. However, he couldn't grab or stab them with any true force. He couldn't shake them off either.

Feeling them start to tear through his shirt he did the only thing he could think of. He threw himself hard onto his back.

 **+50xp**

The maneuver worked but it only killed one as the other had jumped off when he started falling. He heard little feet coming from his right side and threw his other kunai at the cat while it was in mid jump. The projectile impaled it and threw it back.

 **+50xp**

Naruto was panting and desperately trying to catch his breath, but he would have no rest. One of the last living cats ran up between his legs and jumped at him. Instinctively, Naruto's arms shot forward and tried to grab it.

He caught it mere inches from his face. The beast was shrieking and hissing while it flailed it claws, desperately trying to find purchase in flesh. Naruto looked the creature in its face and saw it was missing an eye. That made this one the one slashed in the face.

Realizing it couldn't get his face, the cat turned its attention to his arms and started raking at them. It even bit into Naruto's left hand.

Biting back a scream the blond moved his right hand from its body to its throat. He grasped it as hard as he could and squeezed. The feral cat struggled even harder than before and bit down harder on his hand.

Eventually it started feeling the effects of oxygen deprivation and it let go of his hand and it's struggling started to get weaker and weaker. That was all the motivation Naruto needed.

 _Crack!_

As the feral's neck snapped Naruto tossed it to the side. He started to breathe a sigh of relief but he realized he still wasn't safe. Springing up, he did a full 360 of his surroundings, eyes desperately scanning for signs of the cat he had slashed in the stomach.

Eventually, his eyes landed on its cooling corpse near the edge of the tall grass. If the trail of blood leading to wasn't enough then the large pool of blood it was in was enough to confirm it had bled out.

Knowing that he truly was safe now Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. However no sooner than he did, his brain manage to properly compute the very gory scene surrounding him.

He sniffed and the smell of blood assaulted his nose. All those emotions he felt earlier returned but far more potent. The guilt, remorse, shame and horror all came crashing back into him at once. The adrenaline and satisfaction were still there but it just felt so muted in comparison.

"Oh Kami-" Naruto opened his mouth to verbally express his emotions but regretted it immediately. There was still plenty of blood on his face from one of the cats and it gladly rushed into the open crevice.

 _Retch!_

Naruto immediately dubbed over and emptied the contents in his stomach. He stayed hunched over for what felt like hours dry heaving and retching before finally stumbling back and landing on his ass.

He wiped his face off before focusing on the top right corner of his vision and seeing his health. They had dropped him about 400hp.

After he caught his breath he looked up and saw the strangest thing. The bodies of the ferals seemed to have blue wisps of light coming off them. He watched in fascination as the bodies and blood completely dissolved in a few seconds.

He thought he was seeing things but then a glowing light appeared in front of his face and formed a stack of cash that fell to the ground.

"What the hell? Why is money falling out of the sky?" Naruto stared at the cash in pure confusion.

He didn't have to wait too long for his question to be answered.

" **Congratulations! You have discovered practice dungeon #1. Dungeons are locations within the world that let you fight monsters for experience, money and items. Not to mention plan old fun! Each dungeon has its own recommended lv and unique enemies. Practices dungeons were designed to give you a taste of them in a safer environment. Beat all 3 practice dungeons to unlock true dungeons."**

 **New Quest Unlocked**

 **Dungeon Dweller: The game has set up 3 practice dungeons for you to beat unlock the real deal.**

 **Objective: Unlock true dungeons**

 **Rewards: 5,000 xp, 5000 Ryo and access to dungeons.**

Naruto was sure the stare he was directing towards the notification was the deadest one he'd ever made.

"So why couldn't I have been told about this before getting jumped?" Naruto's voice was so flat it hurt.

 **Tooltip: Some elements of the game are meant to be a surprise.**

"Suuurre…. Why did all the..bodies disappear into the air?"

 **Tooltip: It is so they can be transformed into the proper rewards. Auto loot has been toggled on. If turned off bodies of enemy creatures will remain for you to desecrate. Also, it keeps the game nice and clean!**

"It keeps the game clean….," Naruto repeated the words disbelievingly. "Just fuck you watch."

 **Tooltip: I have been programmed to respond with You're Welcome!**

Naruto closed the notification without a second thought. He then grabbed the stack of cash and placed it in his wallet.

 **+140 Ryo**

Since he had been sitting down Naruto felt much better. He looked himself over the best he could and noted he was already starting to heal. He checked his health saw he was sitting at 2500/2700. Meaning he had regained half his lost hp.

' _Why DO I heal so fast?'_ Thought Naruto absently. It couldn't have been a game thing because he had always had fast healing. Maybe it was from his clan?

Clearing his head, the blond stood up to push forward. If this was some type of quest then it would be a waste not to do it. He was still a little shaken by the earlier events but his mind felt calmer now. Knowing they were most likely made by the game for him to kill made it slightly easier to accept that he had just butchered a bunch of cats.

It seemed he chose a good time to get up.

 _Rustle!_

"Fuck! Not again!" Before whatever was in the grass could come out, Naruto dashed over and grabbed his lost kunai before spinning and facing the noise.

 **Wild Cat Lv 4**

 **Hp:** 400 **Cp:** 100

 **A cat that has been born in the wild. They're also faster, stronger, smarter, and have thicker skin then feral cats. They are drawn to the smell of blood.**

' _Well that's just great,'_ thought Naruto as he held his knives defensively.

The wild cat started circling the child as if he was sizing him up. After seeing what looked like an opportunity it rushed straight at him.

Naruto slashed at it only for it to swerve to his right at the last moment. Thankfully Naruto was able to use the momentum from the slash to roll to his left and make separation.

The moment he popped up he launched a kunai at it and slashed its side. Although it's tougher skin made the cut shallower.

The wild cat screeched in pain before running towards the blond once more but noticeably slower.

Naruto was ready for it this time though. His eyes tracked it perfectly as it tried the same maneuver as before. He shifted his body and sliced at its other side. This time the blade nicked its leg making it trip over itself.

Naruto immediately threw his last held kunai at the down creature's head. Once again it didn't pierce as deep but it was more than enough to kill it.

 **Fatal Critical! +115xp**

Once again, Naruto watched as the creature dissolved in blue wisps and a stack of cash fell in front of him.

 **+30 Ryo**

"Ok then. Let's see what else tries to kill me," said Naruto as he picked the cash up. He grabbed his two kunai before placing them in his pouch.

Seeing no point in sitting around he chose to push deeper in the grounds.

 _ **(Time Style: Timeskip no Jutsu!)**_

Naruto had been wandering for about an hour or two now and he had encountered just over a dozen ferals and four wild cats. The ferals came in smaller groups and were much easier to deal with than before. A wild would usually follow the group of ferals but Naruto dealt with them in short order.

At one point he had run into a particularly large group of ferals _and_ wilds. There was well over 30 in total. His watch had said something about it being a " _ **Horde Den**_ " but he was too busy using Hyper-stride to "GTFO", more commonly known as Getting The Fuck Out, to care.

After that little encounter he headed into the forest and had been fighting there ever since.

Currently he was a clearing near the back of the forest. He had just dealt with a lone feral before looking up into the sky and noticing that dark clouds seemed to be forming overhead.

"I should probably start heading back," he said to himself. He turned to do just that but then a white blur raced passed his vision. His head snapped to the left as he tried to follow it but another blur raced pass him and he felt pain in his leg.

He checked his hp and saw that he had taken 100 damage from something and when he looked down he saw a cut on his leg. He heard hissing behind him and turned around immediately.

What he was greeted with was a large cat that was about two feet long and a foot and a half tall with white fur and black dots.

 **Chakra Lynx Lv 5**

 **Hp:** 800 **Cp:** 300

 **Chakra Lynx are rare creatures that are able to harness and channel chakra. They are able to use it to sharpen their claws and enhance their speed. Be warned that they tend to come in pairs.**

Naruto looked behind him just in time to see another creeping up on him.

"Fuck me!" He once again praised his increased dex as he jumped out of the way and hopped up to his feet. He turned to face the Lynxes and saw them side by side, slowly approaching.

He grabbed his two trusty kunai and readied himself once more. As soon as he did they launched at him. Naruto tried his best to keep track of their movements but they kept blitzing around him.

Soon he felt a cut appear on his leg followed by another, and another, and another. It took most of the blond's willpower to stay standing after the 6th or 7th. After the 8th he managed to kick one of his wounded legs out and kick one of his attackers.

The predator was sent bouncing along the ground due to the backlash of being stopped so suddenly at it's speed. It got up fairly quick but it looked injured.

Its partner saw this and shrieked in what one could call anger. It dashed around to Naruto's front before lunging at him with a paw raised and claws glowing a faint blue color.

Naruto saw what it was trying to do and was going to deal with it like the other cats before realizing his mistake. This one was faster, much faster. He had no time to completely dodge so he leaned as far back as he could.

"GAH!" The claw missed his face but he couldn't get away unscathed. Its claw raked across his chest, tearing through his shirt and leaving a fairly large cut going diagonally across him.

Naruto stumbled back in pain while clutching his chest. _'These guys are hurting me too much. I have to figure something out.'_

His little mind was racing trying to figure out a solution. The biggest problem was their speed. If he could slow them down it would make it all the difference. The gears in his brain starting working overtime to figure something out before his eyes widened ever so slightly.

He had got an idea.

The obvious answer was to go for their legs but the problem is that they were too fast for him to be able to hit with his kunai. Kunai weren't his only weapons though. Out of his pouch he grabbed the handful of shuriken he owned. He hadn't been using them because his aim was poor and they weren't all that sharp but for what he had in mind he didn't either of those things.

"Come on you stupid cats! Show me what you got!" Naruto used Hyper-stride to jump over both of the Lynx and get behind them. They both turned and eyed him down. They snarled before launching at him. _'Perfect.'_

Naruto waited a split second before using Hyper-stride to jump high into the air and twisted his body while throwing out the shuriken. They scattered in a wide arc. Not accurate at all but enough to frighten them into a stop.

He remembered how the other Lynx acted when he hit it. It had too much momentum to be stopped so suddenly without backlash. The same effect happened again and both cats tumbled to the ground due to the sudden stop.

Naruto used his remaining airtime to launch two kunai at the downed creatures. His luck shined through and one of the knives found purchase in throat of one. Unfortunately, the other only managed to leave a large gash in the other lynx.

 **Fatal Critical! +225xp**

The blond landed in a crouch. The impact of the landing rattling his bones a little. He got to his feet quickly and drew a third kunai. He waited for the last lynx to rise to its feet and charge him again. Predictably, it did just that.

As it rushed him again Naruto was prepared. When the lynx got close it lunged at him once more but he had seen it coming. This time his hand shot out and he grabbed it by its throat and while it was flailing in his grasp he lodged his kunai into its skull.

 **Fatal Critical! +225xp**

"Gotcha bitch!" Naruto cheered as he watched the dead animal dissolve into the blue wisps of light. Then he watched as a wad of money dropped in front of him.

 **+100 ryo**

 **+1 rare lynx fur, D rank item**

 **The fur of a chakra lynx. It's fairly uncommon and sells well. It can also conduct chakra.**

"Ok, this is new. Haven't gotten an item before," said the blond as he wondered if this was a fluke or not.

"Maybe the other enemies weren't strong enough to drop stuff? Oh well, it doesn't matter much. What should I do with this though?" He thought about it for a while before he noticed another pelt lying where he had killed the other lynx.

Walking over to it he picked it up along with his kunai before sitting down. He then quickly realized a small problem, "Just where am I putting these? I don't have a backpack or anything…. wait a minute…. inventory!"

Naruto turned his attention to his watch and opened up his inventory. When he opened it, it was completely empty which made sense because it was his first time using it. He saw a store item button and pressed it before waiting for something to happen but nothing did.

After some trying and failing he just thought about the pelts and they vanished. With that solved the boy let out a sigh before letting himself fall onto his back. He was _tired_ and those lynxes had hurt

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted his hp, "1200 out of 2700 left? Damn, I better rest a bit before heading out of here. No way I'm risking getting jumped by more cats like this."

He started to just lay there but as soon he peered into the darkening sky he realized just how close it was to raining.

He now was faced with a dilemma. If he stayed out here for much longer he would get soaked to the bone. On the other hand, he really didn't want to risk getting jumped by more lynx or running into that horde again. At least, not while his health was still so low.

He did know that at the back of the forest there was cliff face. There had to be a small cave or crack in the rock to he could recover in. It was just a matter of finding it in time.

In the end his options were A: Head home, get drenched, and probably jumped, or B: Try to find shelter, possibly get drenched, and possibly get jumped. One promised shelter at home but he would get wet and most likely attacked. The other left it all to chance.

The boy was still trying to make up his mind when a single drop of water hit him dead in the forehead.

"Screw it! Luck don't fail me now," muttered the child. With his mind made up he quickly started making his way to the back of the forest.

After about 5 minutes of traveling it started to drizzle. In response Naruto used Hyper-Stride to speed up his travel time. In another five he had reached the edge of the forest.

When Naruto did he was greeted with a stretch of open grass about a dozen yards wide that separated the tree line from the cliff face. He walked up and down the tree line while scanning the cliffside in search of a hide away.

He did this for a few minutes with no avail. He was just about to curse his luck when at last it seemed to have shined through. In front of him was a large crack in the rock that formed a jagged, triangular mouth to a small cave.

He found it just in time too, as it had just started to truly rain instead of slight drizzle from earlier. The rain clouds had rolled fully rolled in making it grow dark. Even the forest behind him, which had been fairly well lit, now appeared as one large shadow formed by the trees.

Naruto was little over have way across the distance to the cave when he heard something.

 _SNAP!_

A branch snapped behind him and the sound was just loud enough for him to hear over the rain. His head jerked in the direction of the sound instinctively and he was met with a pair of glowing blue eyes peering back at him…. or more specifically, two pairs of eyes.

Chakra lynx eyes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just them. Slowly, pairs of eerie yellow eyes started appearing one by one in the darkness of the tree line all around him.

"Oh, come on! Really!" Naruto cried under his breath as he turned to face the new threats. They must have been here for the same reason as him. What were the odds man? As he went to grabbed a kunai from his pouch the cats slowly began entering the clearing.

He wasn't sure of exact numbers but there were easily several dozen cats. Amongst the horde he could see ferals, wilds and even several chakra lynxes. It was taking all he had not to shut down in fear. This group was much larger than the last.

"Deep breaths now. You got away once you can do it again," Naruto whispered to himself. Water dripped down his face as his eyes shot all over the place in a poor attempt at keeping track of all the creatures. He was just about to activate Hyper-stride and run for it when he heard something that sent shivers down his spine.

 _ **RRRAAAAWWRRR!**_

A high-pitched shriek that seemed to be a mix of a roar and a snarl ripped through the clearing. The sound was scary but what the blond found even more terrifying was that the sound came from behind him.

He once again turned around, ignoring the known threat in favor of the new one, and as he did he saw all of the other cats stop in their tracks. Those closest to the roar even went as far as to start backing up, completely ignoring him.

The child's eyes peered into the cave frantically searching for what was behind that horrid roar. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it didn't take him long to find what he was looking for.

From the depths of the cave a pair of large glowing red eyes peered out at him. Slowly but surely, he could start making out the figure of a large animal. It was far larger than anything else he had ever seen.

That much he could tell from its shadow. Only as it left the shadows of what was apparently it's cave and came into the dim light of the clearing could he look at it fully.

To repeat his previous assessment, it was _big._ It was only a head shorter than him on all fours and easily 7ft long. It's dusty brown fur and feline face gave away what it was immediately and that only made the blond panic more.

 **Mountain Lion Lv 7**

 **Hp:** 3000 **Cp:** 400

 **Rarer than chakra lynx, mountain lions run these woods. They're large, powerful and excellent hunters. They can't use chakra but their natural speed and strength more than makes up for it. Watch out for their sharp claws and powerful bite.**

The red-eyed lion roared once more. As if to gloat at the games acknowledgment of its species prowess before leveling its glare on Naruto angrily.

It also could've roared to say 'leave or die'. Yeah…. that's definitely an option.

' _Shit! Not good. I need to leave now!'_ His health was still nowhere near full, sitting at only 1800. He couldn't do this. Not now.

Naruto turned to leave with Hyper-Stride but ran into a problem immediately. His path away was being blocked by the other cats. They were staying in the woods and at his sides observing him and the cougar. In fact, they had formed a sort of semi-circle around the cave.

 _ **RRRAAAAWWRRR!**_

It seemed Naruto wasn't the only one to notice he was trapped.

The blond didn't even have time to curse as he hit the floor and watched the large cat sail over him. It landed gracefully and turned towards Naruto just as he picked himself up. Seeing that he was still slightly off balance it charged him.

It was nowhere near as fast as the little blurs of light that were the chakra lynx but it was still incredibly fast. It had cleared the distance between them in just over two seconds.

Naruto just managed to sidestep out of it way, expecting it to jump again. However, instead of pouncing it lashed out with a claw. It just managed to lightly graze the boy's chest as he got out of the way.

He grunted in pain while stumbling back a little as the blow threw him slightly off balance. He gained his footing and saw his hp dip a bit as he grabbed another kunai and held them both in a reverse grip.

The cougar was now facing him once more so the blond starting backing up to put distance between the two of them. That however, stopped once he heard hissing behind him. Naruto wouldn't dare take his eyes the threat in front of him but he didn't need to anyways. He knew it was most likely the cats blocking his way.

As to why they were still here? He didn't know. Maybe they were trying to appease the cougar with his corpse like ancient people did gods? Unlikely, but it made a small dark part of himself laugh in the back of his head.

He didn't know it yet, but he had just attained one of the greatest skills any ninja worth their salt could have. The ability to laugh in the face of death.

Seeing that escape was not going to be an option he changed approaches. He slowly started moving closer towards the big cat. If he couldn't run he was going to have to fight.

The cougar saw him approaching and let out low growls. It noticed how careful he was moving now and chose to take a similar approach. Instead of charging or leaping it started to slowly circle him looking for an opening.

It was a motion quickly copied by the blond.

' _I'm hurt and this thing is already stronger than me in the first place. I can't afford to make any mistakes so I'll need to play defensive.'_

The rain was coming down harder now. Naruto's eyes stung from the water and his clothes felt heavier. The grass was also starting to get slick so he had to mind his footing.

The hunter and hunted circled each other endlessly. One waiting for the other to make a mistake first. This calm before the storm lasted a handful of tense seconds more before the cougar grew impatient.

It struck out at the blond with one of it's large, clawed, paws.

Thinking fast, Naruto used a short burst of Hyper-stride to dodge around the lunge and jammed a kunai in its side. The mountain lion roared in pain before rounding on the blond.

The sudden movement mixed with the wet grass caused Naruto to release the kunai and stumble back onto his ass.

Big mistake.

The enraged animal wasted no time and pounced on the downed blond.

The scared child did the only thing he could think of and raised the last kunai he held in defense. The kunai sinking into its chest was the only thing that saved him from immediate death. It roared out in pain instead of biting down on his face

Sadly, he still was only inches from the literal jaws of death though.

Naruto's left shoulder had been pierced and pinned down by one of the cougar's large claws when it pounced on top of him.

When the pain registered within him he screamed out in in agony and used his free hand to try to remove the offending appendage but to no avail. Within moments the cougar recovered from being stabbed again and went to bite at its trapped prey.

Out of sheer reflexive Naruto moved his good arm to shield his face. Again, it saved his life but at a cost.

The small boy let out yet another bloodcurdling scream as his arm was savagely bit down on and shook by the wounded predator.

He trashed around for a few seconds in an attempt to escape, only injuring himself further, before his mind began to numb. If not for gamers mind he would have blacked out from the pain by now.

His hearing then began to fail him as a ringing sound filled his ears. Shortly after that stopped feeling the pain. Soon Naruto just watched numbly as he was being mauled by the animal.

He wasn't panicked or frustrated. Hell! He wasn't even sad or scared. Just like he had lost the energy to fight back, his brain lost the energy to form those emotions. However, there was one thing he felt.

Disappointment.

He was about to die here. In a forest, surround by cats from hell, while being mauled to death by what might as well be the devil in disguise.

Not peacefully in his sleep from old age or on a battlefield defending his village as Hokage.

No, he was going to die to an overgrown housecat at the tender age of nine.

Fucking pathetic.

Wasn't he supposed to be a ninja?

For some reason that feeling of disappointment stuck with him. Morphing and twisting itself into something new. Something different.

Rage.

Defiance.

Naruto's eyes suddenly filled with a grim determination.

He wasn't going to die here.

No, not here…and certainly not like this.

Then those same eyes that were filled with fire, rage and defiance bled red.

A faint red haze came over his frame as the whisker marks on his cheeks grew darker and thickened. His canines also extended ever so slightly as a snarl placed itself on his face.

Power filled Naruto's veins and fueled his rage and determination.

He used a small fraction of that power and kneed his captor hard in its stomach. The cougar was forced to go of his arm and leaped away in pain and surprise. However, before it fully retreated, the blond used his previously pinned arm to grab the knife from its chest with speed he didn't know he had.

As Naruto rose to his feet he was met with another terrifying although weakened roar from his foe.

He wasn't shaken…

Naruto's unknowingly slitted red eyes stared into the creatures own.

He roared back…

As his war cry died in the air, the blond disappeared briefly before reappearing on the lions back. He used his previously mauled on arm to _rip_ out the other kunai that had been lodged into its side.

The sky was now out right pouring water down onto the ground. Strangely enough Naruto didn't even feel wet. In fact, he felt quite warm…. or maybe he did and just didn't notice.

To be honest he wasn't thinking his clearest at the moment. His hearing had long since returned and the downpour served as a white noise to block out all the sound except for his mind.

And right now, it was screaming two things.

 _ **LIVE!**_

 _ **KILL!**_

With another bestial war cry the blond took both of the kunai and jammed them into the beats neck before dragging them in opposite directions, cutting open it's throat.

The cougar tried to roar once more in its own form of defiance but all that came out was a strangled gurgling sound.

Naruto hopped off the beast and watched it thrash for a short time before falling to the ground unmoving.

As soon as it did, the red haze faded, and Naruto returned to normal, non the wiser of its existence. As exhaustion creeped in on him, he took a moment to look around the area only to find himself completely alone. Apparently, the other cats had turned tail and ran.

He took a step towards the cave but as soon as he did his world started to spin. He suddenly felt extremely tired. Like _really_ tired. Before he knew it, he was falling onto his back.

Briefly, he saw some notification pop up before his head hit the ground and he knew darkness.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 **Name:** Uzumaki Naruto

 **Rank:** Academy Student (+25% exp gain to lv10)

 **Title:**

 **Ryo:** 9,170

 **Stat points available: 4**

 **Affiliation: Konoha**

 **Level:** Lv7 next lv=320/7000

 **HP:** 2700/2700

 **CP:** 2100/2100

 **VIT:** 30 (10)

 **STR:** 13

 **DEX:** 11

 **INT:** 10

 **WIS:** 9 (5)

 **LUK:**?

 **Bio:**

 **Naruto Uzumaki, a child whose origins are shrouded in mystery and false truths. He is the pariah of Konoha and as such he has been hated and treated unfairly by the Village all his life for reasons unknown. Due to this he developed a love of pranking and video games to alleviate his loneliness. Despite it all he still has hope in the people of Konoha and is driven by a unbreaking will and pure heart. Naruto strives to be a ninja of his village but has been handicapped every step of the way thus far. If he will crack under pressure and fall into darkness or rise above his oppression and forge a legend all his own remains to be seen.**

 _ **Edited: 9/4/19**_

 _ **Changelog:**_

 _ **-minor grammar updates and sentence correction**_

 _ **-Slightly altered PD fight scences**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Naruto: Game On**_

 _ **Chapter 5: Interlude - Through the Cracked Mirror**_

 _ **A/N: I live! Anyway...this is that little bonus chapter I promised a while back. Waaayyy off schedule but I digress.**_

 _ **This is basically a "history of the world" type thing but in my opinion, there isn't anything groundbreaking with this one. Simply because I want to keep a few things close to the chest for the next few arcs.**_

 _ **Not sure how often these will come but I think one every few arcs will be nice. FYI we are halfway through Arc one as of now.**_

 _ **On another note, my grandfather died yesterday. We had a strained relationship but I've been around him my whole life and he's lived with us for the past 3 years. So it's gonna take me a little while to wrap my head around the situation. But I guess it does give a semi-valid excuse for what I have to say next.**_

 _ **Chapter six, which will pick up where chapter 4 left off, most likely won't be out for at least 2 months or so (not that it really matters with my current update consistency…not proud of that...). There are 3 reasons for this. 1. I just mentioned. 2. There is something I want to do next chapter and it will require me to rethink some of the current and planned mechanics for the gamer system I've come up with. 3. School is back in full swing for me and I can't afford to fuck over my gpa this year. So a lot of my time will go towards that.**_

 _ **Sorry, I hope you all understand. Hopefully, my update schedule will become consistent in the coming months**_

 _ **Well anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy and I that managed to write something to make you all look forward to the future of the story!**_

 _ **Inferno'sLegacy out!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the mentioned works.**_

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 _Long ago, there was a covenant that rested far above the world, beyond the distant stars. They sat in their thrones and observed all that was below._

 _They watched as all the creatures in the realm of mortals fought to survive and found amusement in their struggles._

 _The covenant would laugh and place bets on would perish and who would cling to life. All while sowing their seeds of chaos and creation across the worlds._

 _When they grow bored of watching, one would descend upon a world to reap and make their wrath known once more._

 _This was the cycle for thousands of lifetimes and it would continue for a thousand more. However, time can rip all…._

 **N:GO**

 **(Age 700)**

He was in pain...

Wait...scratch that.

He was in fucking agony!

His back felt like it had been broken, which it probably was, and grounded in to dust. The power contained in that death ball was frightening. Then again, there was a reason why it was listed as an A-Rank Jutsu.

Honestly, he didn't know what he expected out of a fight with his sensei like that.

Oh wait, that's right...he didn't even plan on fighting him!

Sneak into Konoha, Locate the Jinchuriki, Distract the Fourth, Extract the Kyuubi, Possibly Destroy Konoha

It should've been easy, or that's at least what Obito told himself.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't expect his sensei's damned wife Kushina to be so stubborn. It took far too long for him to remove the Kyuubi from her and that lead to Minato catching up to them. The ensuing fight even made him lose control over the beast!

"This was a damn waste! The only remotely good thing about this was the damage the Kyuubi will do to Konoha," he growled in a pained voice as he rapidly fled from the land of fire. As angry as he was, he knew it was his own fault. He had grown too confident of his own power and thought it smart to challenge the only SS-Ranked shinobi alive. "A damned idiot is what I am! I should've fled with the Kyuubi the moment I had control over it!"

Obito's sharingan flared in rage before fading from sight.

Shaking his head, he continued to beat a hasty retreat out of The Land of Fire. He was swapping between on foot travel and his kamui to cover as much ground as possible while saving as much of the little chakra he had left.

He was near the border when the pain simply grew too much, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Aaggh! Dammit, this is unbearable! I would've already been dead if not for my enhanced body. To hell with you Minato-sensei!" Obito growled out through grit teeth.

His sharingan flared weakly once more before fading, "This isn't good. I can't even Kamui anymore." Obito tried to push himself up before falling prone to the ground again. He groaned out in pain before simply lying there. After a minute or so he had forced himself bite down the pain enough to focus again and his trained ears picked up on commotion to his northwest.

It sounded like a horse and carriage. A road maybe?

It was a stretch and Obito would expose himself but given his current state he deemed it worth the risk.

Taking his last stores of strength, he forced himself to his feet and painfully limped three dozen or so feet in the direction of the sound he heard. It put all of his pain resistance training to the test, but he managed to make it to the edge of the forest before collapsing yet again.

After laying there for a moment Obito tried to get up again but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his body to agree with the idea of moving. The only part of himself he had any control over his head.

Using that to his benefit Obito looked up to see where he now found himself stuck at and was greeted with a...town?

Yes, he was most certainly at the edge of a town. The numerous wooden houses were a dead giveaway.

It was most likely one of the many small villages and towns that sprinkled the land of fires border.

If Obito could have, he might just have smiled. This, while not ideal, was certainly better than a road.

He could see a fair few people walking back and forth about a dozen feet in front of him. Now he just had to pray someone saw _him_.

Now..if only...he could...keep...his...eyes...open…

 **N:GO**

Obito regained consciousness at the feeling of being shaked.

"H..a...kay?"

Was that a voice?

"He...r...u..ay? Loo...hurt."

That was definitely a voice. It sounded light...a woman perhaps?

"Hey...okay? You...hurt."

It was cleared this time around. Most certainly female.

"Hey are you okay? You look hurt."

Obito's only visible eye snapped open, blatantly scaring the person over him.

"Oh! Well, you're most certainly still alive. That's a relief," said the stranger while sighing.

Obito's trained mind instantly took to observing. The first thing he noticed was that he was able to stare at this newcomer. That implied they flipped him onto his back. The dull stinging he felt from the added pressure confirmed this. The second thing he noticed was that his "helper" was indeed female and a civilian one at that.

Good.

Taking a moment further, he observed the girl. She had a lithe, healthy frame, looked about his age and stood at about 5"2 with short brown hair and green eyes. All in all, she was a rather attractive female. Her choice of dress implied her line of work may have relied on that.

However, in that moment Obito couldn't have cared less about any of that. He just need her help.

She leaned in close to him once more and inspected his condition. Noting his battle worn state and the various weapons on his person.

She spoke again in a soft voice, " Yeah, you're really injured. You have to be one of those shinobi I always hear about." The girl then leaned in even closer and reached for Obito's mask. He would've grabbed her hand, but he still could hardly move. She spoke as she removed the object from his face, "I wonder what you could've done to hurt yourself this bad though?"

She must have seen the slight look of panic on his uncovered face as she quickly flashed a stunning smile before saying, "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter for a cutie like you. All you need to know is that my name's Miko and I'm going to patch you up Shinobi-san!"

So, she _was_ going to help him and didn't plan on asking questions. Kami was his luck turning around for once!

Surprisingly, she took a finger and started to trace his scarred eye. Obito visibly flinched from the contact before relaxing at taking the moment to more carefully observe her face more closely.

She kind of reminded him of….

' _NO! No, she doesn't...no one does…"_

The young woman suddenly realized what she was doing before pulling back and apologizing with a light blush.

"Forgive me! I got a little lost there… Let me take you to my house to patch you up! I'm no doctor but I know enough," she said as she placed his mask back on. Then in a surprising feat of strength she lifted him up and put his arm around her shoulders before practically dragging him in the direction one could only assume she stayed in.

Obito could only let out a silent scream as pain flared once more in his grievously injured back due to the rough treatment.

As he was pulled along Obito couldn't help but wonder if this was a blessing or a curse in disguise.

Oh well, he could always kill her afterwards...

 **N:GO**

 **(Age 708)**

Fifteen-year-old Itachi was many things.

A son.

An older brother.

A shinobi.

An Anbu Captain.

An Uchiha.

The list goes on.

The one thing Itachi Uchiha was _not_ was a traitor.

It was a well-known fact he was deathly loyal to both his clan and his village.

It was for this exact reason he now found himself emotionally split and on the verge of insanity.

His clan, his family that he loved and admired with all his being, had made to turn on the very village they helped found. The very same village he had pledged his undying loyalty to.

The Uchiha clan planned on doing a terrible thing. They sought to attack the heart of their own creation. Win or lose they would throw Konoha into chaos and hundreds would die. Not to mention there was a real chance of inciting another war due to Konoha's infighting.

On the other hand, the whole reason his clan wanted to rebel was due to them getting improper treatment from those in power within the village. So, in truth they were both in the wrong. Who was worse was up for debate.

What drove a stake further in his heart was the punishment handed out to the Uchiha clan.

Total extermination.

The original order given by the hokage had been simple: Kill only the leaders of the coup.

The third had even been nice enough to offer to have someone else do it. As much as it pained Itachi he insisted it should be him to do it. It took a short while, but he made peace with it and was prepared to do what must be done.

However, all of that changed in the early hours of the morning when he was suddenly summoned by the Hokage's advisors. As it turns out they decided their leaders course of action was all too light of heart.

The three forcefully ordered him to go beyond the parameters of his mission under threat of prolonged harm to his loved ones if he disagreed. In an uncharacteristic manner he raged against them for what felt like hours before he finally accepted under one condition.

They had only granted him half.

It was that conversation that made him wander aimlessly around the village for hours before finally find a secluded place to vent in one Konoha's many forests.

He couldn't turn to the Hokage for help. He had no solid proof and he had long since learned that when it came to those three the Third was slow to act. That was time he didn't have, and his family would pay the price for it.

Itachi clenched his fist so hard blood dripped through and painted the ground below.

Those bastards would pay. He'd make sure of that

His evolved Sharingan roared to life as proof of his hate.

His brother's face then flashed across his mind. The ghost of a weak smile appeared on his lips for a brief moment.

' _At least I can save you.'_

Then another face, his mother's, popped into his head. Itachi felt his eyes begin to sting.

A third. That of a young Uchiha girl filled with childlike innocence. He began to sob.

Slowly the weight of recent events sunk in and he slumped to the floor. In that moment, he was no longer Itachi-The Genius of the Uchiha or Itachi Uchiha-Konoha's Prodigy. He wasn't the elite Anbu captain Weasel or even a shinobi at the point.

In that moment he was just a kid cracking under the weight of the challenge he faced.

In life there are points where we as people breakdown and need someone to pick us back up and give us some advice or even a kind word. That small thing can be what determines if someone grasps on to life or falls off the edge.

In Itachi's moment of weakness he would have _no one._

So, there in that forest, Uchiha Itachi cried. He cried more than he ever had or ever would.

By the time darkness fell Itachi's tears had run dry and he had gone numb. With a heavy heart he rose and slipped on the mask all shinobi wore in times of pain before walking towards what would be his last mission as Konoha Shinobi.

 **N:GO**

 **(Age 709)**

Tenten Higarashi closed the door to her father's shop with a sigh. Today had already been fairly eventful and was still rather early. First her father leaves her a note saying he'll be gone for the next few days. Then she had to go do his job and get ransack the training grounds for broken weapons before quite literally running into a blond ball of energy.

Naruto…

For some reason he seemed familiar to her, but she was almost positive they had never met before. Maybe she had heard his name or glanced him at the academy?

It was a minor detail for sure, but it kept annoying Tenten like a fly that wouldn't buzz off.

Tenten put the last of the scrap bags in their designated place before letting out a sigh. "Kami do I _hate_ making scrap runs!" As she made her way to the back of the shop, which was connected to her house, she couldn't help but be glad that it was over.

"I would've still been hauling those bags through the heat if Naruto didn't show up. I _really_ owe him one for that. I'd still like to know why he seemed familiar though," she said as she reached her room.

Opening the door, Tenten took a moment to observe her domain. The walls were littered with dozens of different weapons and scrolls as well as few posters of her idol, the Slug Sennin Tsunade. Directly over her bed was a piece of torn orange fabric in an ornate frame that was flanked on the left by a replica Hiraishin kunai that was angled down and to the left. To its right was an elegant katana that was broken midway down the length and angled down and to the right.

Pleased with the condition of her room, Tenten walked in. She idly ran the fingers of her right hand along her dresser as she made her way to a chest in the corner of the room. Only stopping for a scant few moments to let her eyes linger on a photo of her mother.

"I still miss you," she whispered.

Tenten's parents were actually adoptive. Her father found her on the streets in a critical state when she was very young. Being the kind soul he was, he brought her to their home and they nursed back to health. After she was better his wife was all too happy to keep her around because she couldn't have kids of their own.

Tenten quickly took interest in her father's business and weapons in general but she always took time to be with her adoptive mother. She got to be the daughter the women always wanted, and her mother got to be the female role model she needed.

She didn't get to know her for long, but Kami did she miss her.

Blinking the mist from her eyes Tenten knelt down to the chest and opened it, "Well if I'm going to be giving that kid some pointers then I better make sure my aims up to snuff. It wouldn't do for me to embarrass myself!"

The girl grabbed several scrolls containing more weapons than any normal person would care to count before exiting both her room and then the shop as a whole. With her goal in mind she made her way towards one of Konoha's many training grounds.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**


End file.
